WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States called for a “thorough and immediate” investigation into the death of a 7-year-old Palestinian boy on Thursday, deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, as Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank sparked clashes.
Patel was asked in a press briefing about the death of the boy. Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Rian Suleiman suffered a heart attack when Israeli soldiers came to arrest his brothers in their West Bank home, citing the boy’s uncle.
“The U.S. is heartbroken to learn of the death of an innocent Palestinian child,” Patel said.
“We support a thorough and immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the child’s death” alongside an Israeli military probe, he added.
Patel also repeated a plea for calm in the West Bank made by Washington on Wednesday, before the raid that reportedly led to the boy’s death.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
