The US State Department on Sunday confirmed an American citizen had died this week in the West Bank, with family and Palestinian officials attributing his death to arson by Israeli settlers.
The Palestinian Authority and witnesses reported on Thursday that settlers had set fire to homes and cars in the village of Silwad in the central West Bank, the latest in a string of attacks in the Palestinian territory.
Khamis Ayyad, 41, died from smoke inhalation due to the fires, the Palestinian Authority health ministry said.
Speaking Friday at a press conference in Chicago, Ayyad’s family said he had moved to the West Bank several years ago with his wife and children, but continued to work for an American company.
He is at least the second American citizen killed in West Bank settler violence in July, after 20-year-old Saif Musallet was beaten to death while visiting family in the town of Sinjil.
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, demanded Israel investigate that killing, calling it a “criminal and terrorist act,” but has yet to comment on the death of Ayyad.
People inspect damage after an alleged attack by settlers in the West Bank town of Silwad on July 31, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
The IDF said it received reports of the arson attack and dispatched troops to the scene; however, all the suspects had fled by the time the forces arrived.
According to the IDF, Palestinians hurled stones at the troops as they were scanning the area. The soldiers also located a burnt-out car and graffiti left behind by the Israeli assailants.
Israeli authorities have requested that the Palestinian Authority provide the results of Ayyad’s autopsy, according to a military official. Police have since launched an investigation into the arson and vandalism.
Asked for comment on the latest death, a State Department spokesperson said “we can confirm the death of a US citizen in the town of Silwad in the West Bank,” without naming Ayyad.
“We condemn criminal violence by any party in the West Bank,” the spokesperson said, on condition of anonymity.
Mourners gather at a hospital in Nablus, West Bank, August 3, 2025, for the funeral of Mu’in Asfar, 24, a Palestinian killed during clashes with Israeli settlers in the village of Aqraba. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Separately, residents of the West Bank village of Aqraba on Sunday buried a 24-year-old Palestinian who was killed by Israeli settlers the day before, the mayor told AFP.
The man was killed during a violent confrontation involving firearms that lasted half an hour and left eight other people injured, Mayor Salah Jaber said.
“It happened very close to the homes of residents. That’s why they (came out) to defend their area, their homes and their farms,” Jaber said.
“The shooting was clearly intended to kill. The injuries were extremely severe, even to the limbs — one person was killed instantly,” Jaber said, identifying the dead man as 24-year-old Muin Asfar.
الشهيد معين صبحي أبو كبر ديرية، الذي ارتقى خلال التصدي لهجوم المستوطنين على سهل محفوريا قرب بلدة عقربا جنوب شرق نابلس. pic.twitter.com/hclKDHB4mv
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) August 2, 2025
Jaber said that although the Israeli army was present, “it was supporting the settlers more than protecting the Palestinians.”
Contacted by AFP, the military said that it was looking into the incident.
Fouad Nafaah, director of the hospital in the nearby city of Nablus, told AFP that Asfar was already dead when he arrived at the facility.
An AFP photographer reported that relatives had come to the morgue to retrieve Asfar’s body, which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag.
Demonstrators rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah in support of Palestinians detained by Israel and against the war in Gaza, August 3, 2025. (Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Violence in the West Bank has spiked since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Settler attacks on Palestinians throughout the West Bank have been taking place on a near-daily basis, largely with impunity, in what has sparked mounting sanctions from Western governments.
Since October 7, Israeli troops and settlers have killed at least 950 Palestinians, including many militants, according to PA health ministry figures. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 53 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.
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