Washington says it's asking Israel about the death of detained Palestinian-American

JERUSALEM — The United States on Wednesday said it was seeking more information about the closure of an Israeli military investigation into the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American who was detained, gagged and left unconscious shortly before being pronounced dead.

Israel had announced on Tuesday that it would not bring criminal charges against the soldiers involved in the detention of the Palestinian-American, Omar Assad, from an impromptu checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last year.

The military admitted that the actions of the soldiers — who left Assad lying unresponsive on the ground without offering medical help or checking to see if he was alive — showed a lapse of moral judgement. But it said the soldiers would face only internal disciplinary measures because it could not determine that their misconduct directly caused Assad’s death.

Assad's death has sparked outrage, shining a light on the dangers faced by Palestinians in the West Bank. Palestinians say they suffer systematic mistreatment living under military occupation.

In the U.S., where Assad spent four decades and where his family still lives, the State Department said it was discussing “this troubling incident with the Israeli government.”

“We are at this time seeking more information,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington. “We're going to talk to them directly about it.”

Miller said the American government had expected Israel to conduct “a thorough criminal investigation and full accountability.”

Human rights groups long have argued that Israel rarely holds soldiers accountable for the deaths of Palestinians, with Israeli military investigations often reflecting a pattern of impunity.