RAMALLAH, Thursday, January 13, 2022 (WAFA) – The US Wednesday called for a thorough investigation into the death of a Palestinian-American after being detained and harassed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank.

The US State Department expressed support for a thorough investigation into the death of 80-year-old Omar Abdel Majid As’ad, who died early Wednesday after Israeli soldiers detained, blindfolded, handcuffed and harassed him in the village of Jiljilya, north of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters: “We support a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this incident”, while pointing that the US State Department had expressed its condolences to the family about this tragedy and offered to provide consular assistance.

As’ad was a former resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he lived for decades and moved back to the West Bank 10 years ago.

He was returning home after visiting his relatives when Israeli soldiers stopped his car, pulled him out of it, blindfolded and handcuffed him and led him away to a building still under construction, according to Jiljilya village council head Fouad Qattoum.

He said that the soldiers did the same to four other citizens, including workers and vegetable sellers, who were on their way to work in the early hours of the morning.

At approximately 4:30 in the morning, and after the Israeli soldiers had left the area, residents rushed to the building where the detainees were left to find the elderly man with no signs of life.

K.F.