A 20-year-old American from Florida was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on Friday while visiting relatives in the occupied West Bank, according to his family and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sayfollah Musallet, known as Saif, was “brutally beaten to death” in the town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya, north of Ramallah, the family said in a statement on social media and confirmed to NBC News. According to the family, a group of settlers blocked an ambulance from reaching Musallet for about three hours.
After the settlers cleared, Musallet’s brother was able to reach him and carry him to the ambulance, according to the statement. However, “Saif died before reaching the hospital.”
A second man, Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, was also killed in the same incident, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live in developments built in Palestinian territories that are widely considered illegal by the international community. Since October 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza, violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank has surged, often aided or abetted by Israeli security forces.
Settler attacks include raids on villages, arson targeting homes and farmland, and physical assaults on residents that have regularly turned deadly.
It is currently unclear why the confrontation that killed Musallet and al-Shalabi began.
In response to a request for comment from NBC News, a State Department spokesperson said it was “aware of reports of the death of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank,” adding the department had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it was “aware of reports regarding a Palestinian civilian killed and a number of injured Palestinians as a result of the confrontation, and they are being looked into by the ISA and Israel Police.
Israel Police and Border Police forces were deployed to the scene "following reports of a physical confrontation between civilians," police told NBC News.
"Several individuals from both sides were detained at the scene on suspicion of involvement in acts of violence," it said. "A joint investigation has since been opened by the Israel Police and the IDF Military Police."
Saif’s cousin Fatmah Muhammed told NBC News on Saturday that Musallet worked in an ice cream shop run by his father in Tampa, Florida. He traveled to the West Bank in June to visit his mother, brother and sister. Musallet’s father was en route to the West Bank from Florida for his funeral, to be held on Sunday.
“This news has been devastating for the entire family,” Muhammed said.
Nizar Milbes, a close family friend currently visiting the West Bank from California, told NBC News that many residents of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya are Americans.
The town is known for its olive trees and rolling hills, where many modern Palestinian homes are built, including some of the West Bank’s more opulent houses. Families gathered to barbecue and relax, many of them traveling from the U.S. for vacation, but Milbes said growing settler violence has transformed the area.
“There’s nothing left over here for people to enjoy, the settlers have taken everything,” he told NBC News. “People can’t even go there anymore. The settlers have burned the vacation homes, they’ve encroached and put their stuff there.”
In March, a United Nations report warned that settler violence had “increased in a climate of continuing impunity.”
Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, said settlers rarely face legal consequences for violence perpetrated against Palestinians. Between 2005 and 2023, more than 93% of all investigations were closed without an indictment and only 3% of investigations led to a conviction, according to a report by the organization.
