The United States on Monday said it expects “accountability” regarding the shooting death of a Palestinian teen in Jenin on Sunday during a battle between Palestinian terrorists and Israeli forces.
“We do express our profound condolences to the family of Jana Zakarna, the young teenage girl who was killed. This—it is a tragic incident. It’s a heartbreaking incident any time you hear of a civilian being killed in these types of operations,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said at the daily press briefing.
“We understand the IDF is undertaking an investigation into what happened. We hope to see accountability in this case,” he continued.
Price noted that outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid had offered his condolences to the family, and that the tragic incident had come in the context of escalating violence in Judea and Samaria.
He reiterated the Biden administration’s call for all parties to take steps to de-escalate the situation in Judea and Samaria to prevent further loss of life.
On Sunday night, Israeli troops came under heavy fire after entering Jenin to apprehend terror suspects, and returned fire, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Zakarna was on a rooftop when she was shot, according to Palestinian reports.
In a statement on Monday, Lapid said that the investigation was in its preliminary stages, adding that Israel would continue to carry out counterterrorism operations wherever necessary. He emphasized that he has complete trust in the security forces to do their utmost to prevent harm to non-combatants while carrying out highly complex operations.
