Israel rebukes US Palestinian affairs office over tweet

Israel's embassy to the United States issued a rare public rebuke Friday to a State Department office that deals with Palestinian affairs, after it criticized Israel's demolition of a Palestinian home in Jerusalem.

"The government of Israel has demolished the home of a Palestinian family in response to the actions of their 13-year-old child," the US Office of Palestinian Affairs posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"An entire family should not lose their home because of the actions of one individual," it added.

The Israeli embassy shot back in response, "Context is helpful: the '13-year-old' is a terrorist who murdered an Israeli citizen by stabbing him to death."

Neither side named the teen, but Israeli media identified him as Muhammad Zalbani, who it said had stabbed to death an Israeli border policeman as he was inspecting a bus in East Jerusalem in February.

The Times of Israel said the home demolition took place on Wednesday in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, under the protection of a large police force.

Israel has defended its controversial policy of destroying the homes of Palestinians who carry out attacks on its citizens, a practice widely condemned by human rights groups as collective punishment.

The latest demolition took place amid open warfare between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.