The 23-year-old Palestinian who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Friday has been confirmed to be a US citizen, according to the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

“Under the protection of government officials, Israeli settlers lynched a Palestinian American man from Tampa, Florida,” a statement issued by the group said.

“Saif al-Din Musalat (also reported as Sayfollah Musallet), born in Port Charlotte, Florida, was visiting family for the summer when he was beaten to death while protesting the construction of a new illegal Israeli outpost on village land in al‑Mazra’a ash‑Sharqiya. An ambulance was blocked from reaching him for nearly two hours,” the ADC said.

“This horrific murder is yet another example of Israel killing American citizens. As of the issuance of this statement, no one has been arrested, no one has been indicted, and—if the past is any guide—no one will be held accountable for the death of Saif,” the statement continued.

“This is not an aberration; it is part of a well‑documented pattern of impunity enjoyed by Israeli settlers and security forces who routinely attack Palestinians and Palestinian‑Americans under the protection of occupation authorities and indifference of US officials”.

The killing of US citizens abroad is more often than not addressed by the highest levels of the US government, including a phone call to the victim’s family from the president.

But now, the ADC said, when “the perpetrators are Israeli settlers or security forces, many US citizens themselves, Washington’s response is silence, delay, or repeating the lies of Israeli authorities”.

“ADC calls on President Donald J. Trump to direct the State Department to open an immediate, American-led investigation into this heinous murder; demand that Israeli authorities arrest and prosecute the perpetrators without delay; and apply standard diplomatic protocol given to any murdered US citizen, including public condemnation of the crime, and regular briefings to Congress until justice is served,” the group urged.

Rights advocates call on the Trump administration to ensure accountability for the killing of Seif al-Din Muslat.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have beaten to death a United States citizen in his early 20s, the victim’s family members and rights groups have said.

Settlers attacked and killed Seif al-Din Muslat in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, on Friday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Relatives of Muslat, who was from Tampa, Florida, were also quoted by The Washington Post as saying he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

“We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank,” Reuters reported a State Department spokesperson as saying. The official declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.

Muslat had travelled from his home in Florida to visit family in Palestine, his cousin Fatmah Muhammad said in a social media post.

Another Palestinian, identified by the Health Ministry as Mohammed Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers during the attack.

Rights advocates have documented repeated instances where Israeli settlers in the West Bank ransack Palestinian neighbourhoods and towns, burning homes and vehicles in attacks sometimes described as pogroms.

The Israeli military often protects the settlers during their rampages and has shot Palestinians who show any resistance.

The United Nations and other prominent human rights organisations consider the Israeli settlements in the West Bank violations of international law, as part of a broader strategy to displace Palestinians.

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While some Western countries like France and Australia have imposed sanctions on violent settlers, attacks have increased since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

When President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, his administration revoked sanctions on settlers imposed by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Israeli forces have killed at least nine US citizens since 2022, including veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

But none of the incidents have resulted in criminal charges.

The US provides billions of dollars to Israel every year. Advocates have accused successive US administrations of failing to protect American citizens from Israeli violence in the Middle East.

On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Washington to ensure accountability for the killing of Musallet.

“Every other murder of an American citizen has gone unpunished by the American government, which is why the Israeli government keeps wantonly killing American Palestinians and, of course, other Palestinians,” CAIR deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.

He then pointed out that Trump has repeatedly promised to prioritise American interests, as typified by his campaign slogan “America First”.

“If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration,” Mitchell said.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) also called for action from the US administration, noting that settlers are “lynching Palestinians more frequently – with full support from Israel’s army and government”.

“The US government has a legal and moral obligation to stop Israel’s racist violence against Palestinians. Instead, it’s still backing and funding it,” the group said in a statement.

The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment about the killing of Musallet.

The Palestinian group Hamas condemned the murder of Muslat, describing it as “barbaric”, and called on Palestinians across the West Bank to rise up to “confront the settlers and their terrorist attacks”.

Israel said it was “investigating” what happened in Sinjil, claiming that the violence started when Palestinians threw rocks at an Israeli vehicle.

“Shortly thereafter, violent clashes developed in the area between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, which included the destruction of Palestinian property, arson, physical confrontations, and stone-throwing,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

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Israeli investigations often lead to no charges or meaningful accountability for the abuses of Israeli officers and settlers.

As settler and military violence intensifies in the West Bank, Israel has killed at least 57,762 Palestinians in Gaza in a campaign that rights groups have described as a genocide.

A Palestinian-American citizen was killed by Israeli settlers during an attack in the occupied West Bank, according to the victim’s family and reports.

Sayfollah Musallet, 23, was visiting relatives in the village of al-Mazraa ash-Sharqiya when he was beaten unconscious near the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah.

His family said settlers prevented ambulances from reaching him for hours.

By the time he arrived at a hospital, he had died from his injuries.

“He was injured and remained so for four hours. The army prevented us from reaching him and did not allow us to take him away,” said Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, a resident of Musallet’s hometown, according to Times of Israel.

A second man, Mohammad Rizq Hussein al Shalabi, was also killed in the same attack.

He was reportedly shot and left bleeding at the scene, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident, which took place during what it described as a “violent confrontation” involving arson, property damage, and physical clashes.

No arrests have been announced.

Loved one

The US State Department confirmed it was aware of reports of a US citizen killed in the occupied West Bank, saying: “We have no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas,” but declined further comment out of respect for the family’s privacy, according to Zeteo.

Musallet, born in Florida and raised in Port Charlotte, had been visiting Palestine since June.

He was remembered by relatives as a “sweet, gentle” person who helped run the family’s ice cream shop in the US.

“Everyone loved him,” said his cousin, Fatmah Muhammad.

Footage from the aftermath showed his body being carried through the streets, wrapped in a Palestinian flag and surrounded by mourners.

Massive attacks

Local sources said Illegal Zionist settlers attacked Palestinians protesting the construction of a new outpost near Sinjil.

Palestinian media reported that settlers smashed the windows of an ambulance at the scene.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recorded over 2,000 settler attacks against Palestinians and their property since January 2024.

More than 350 Palestinians have been wounded this year alone in such incidents.

Musallet is the seventh American reportedly killed in the region since October 7, 2023 — six of them by Israeli forces.

According to the Palestinian Authority, over 950 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank during that time.

The family of Saif Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian-American beaten to death in the West Bank on Friday, released a statement over the weekend urging U.S. authorities to investigate his death.

The family said Musallet was attacked by Israeli settlers while trying to protect his family’s land and was surrounded for over three hours before help could reach him. “The mob of settlers blocked the ambulance and paramedics from providing life-saving aid,” the statement said, adding that his younger brother carried him to the ambulance, but “Saif died before making it to the hospital.”

Musallet, born in Florida, had traveled to the West Bank in June to visit relatives. His family described him as “kind, hard-working,” and “known for his generosity, ambition, and connection to his Palestinian heritage.” The family urged the U.S. State Department to “lead an immediate investigation” and “hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable.”

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health and cousins of Sayfollah Musallat—also known as Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat—said Friday that Israeli settlers beat the dual U.S.-Palestinian citizen to death while he was visiting family in the illegally occupied West Bank.

A spokesperson for the ministry, Annas Abu El Ezz, told Agence France-Press that 23-year-old Musallat “died after being severely beaten all over his body by settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, this afternoon.”

Abdul Samad Abdul Aziz, from the nearby village of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya, said that “the young man was injured and remained so for four hours. The [Israeli] army prevented us from reaching him and did not allow us to take him away.”

“When we finally managed to reach him, he was taking his last breath,” he added.

The Times of Israel reported that the “ministry later said a second man, 23-year-old Mohammad Shalabi, was fatally shot by settlers,” and “there have been no arrests yet.”

According to the Tel Aviv-based newspaper Haaretz, “The Israeli army said it was ‘aware of reports’ of the incident and that it was ‘being looked into by the Shin Bet security service and Israel Police.'”

Zeteo’s Prem Thakker spoke with two of Musallat’s cousins, Fatmah Muhammad and another granted anonymity due to safety concerns. They said that he grew up in Port Charlotte, Florida, and arrived in June to visit family in the Palestinian town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.

As Thakker detailed:

Muhammad described Musallat as “one of those kids that everyone loves” with a “beautiful heart,” a “sweet, gentle kid, very genuine,” everyone attests as funny and bright.

In Florida, he helped run a family ice cream shop, a place where his personality shone through, his family members said.

Muhammad and the other family source said that the entire Palestinian town where the family is from is devastated.

“There’s no justice there. You can’t call the police. You can’t call the Israeli government. The murderers just get to walk away,” Muhammad said.

Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the Israel Defense Forces have killed over 57,800 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip—which has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). During that time, IDF soldiers and Israeli settlers’ sometimes deadly violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has also surged.

Additionally, despite the ICJ’s July 2024 finding that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible, and Israeli settler colonization of the West Bank amounts to unlawful annexation, there are growing calls in Israel’s government to formally annex the West Bank.

Musallat’s death came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a fugitive from the International Criminal Court accused of continuing the mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza to stay in power—returned to Israel after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders in Washington, D.C. this week.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States, said in a Friday statement that “we strongly condemn these racist Israeli settlers, backed and enabled by the Netanyahu government, for beating an American citizen to death in the occupied West Bank.”

“This murder is only the latest killing of an American citizen by illegal Israeli settlers or soldiers,” he noted. “Every other murder of an American citizen has gone unpunished by the American government, which is why the Israeli government keeps wantonly killing American Palestinians and, of course, other Palestinians. If President Trump will not even put America first when Israel murders American citizens, then this is truly an Israel First administration.”

According to Thakker: “Musallat is at least the seventh American killed in the West Bank, Gaza, or Lebanon since October 7, 2023, including six killed by Israeli forces. Earlier this week, Zeteo asked several Republican senators if they knew how many Americans had been killed by Israel in the last 21 months. None of them could answer.”