A 17-year-old Palestinian American was fatally shot Friday in the town of Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing local sources.
Tawfiq Hafiz Ajjaq was shot in the head and was taken to Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he was in critical condition but later died, WAFA said, citing medical sources at the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police told CNN it received a report that an off-duty police officer and an Israeli civilian fired toward a “Palestinian individual suspected of hurling rocks in the area of Al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.”
An IDF soldier was also present in the area, the IDF said in a statement to CNN.
“The claim that the soldier fired at the Palestinian is under review,” the statement said.
Israel’s police have opened an investigation into the incident, the IDF and Israeli police told CNN.
Tawfiq had been living abroad for almost a year and a half before returning to the West Bank, according to WAFA.
Al-Mazra’a Al-Sharqiya is a town where many Palestinian-Americans live.
The US is “seriously concerned” about reports of the shooting, though information is “scant at this time,” John Kirby, US National Security Council spokesperson, said in a Friday briefing.
CNN has reached out to the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the US Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem for comment.
This post has been updated with comments from a US national security official.
