Nearly 2 dozen Americans killed in Israel-Hamas war: State Dept.

Nearly two dozen Americans have now been killed “as a result of continued violence” tied to the Israel-Hamas war, the US State Department said Monday.

“We can confirm the deaths of 23 American citizens,” State Department rep Vedant Patel said at a regular press briefing.

Of the US citizens slain since Oct. 7, 21 of them had been serving in the Israel Defense Forces, and one was with the Israeli National Police, Patel noted.

The recent death of 17-year-old Palestinian-American, Tawfiq Ajjaq, is the latest addition to the mounting death toll, the rep added.

“We are devastated about the killing of 17-year-old U.S. citizen Tawfic Abdel Jabbar in the West Bank,” Patel said, noting that the United States was working with Israel to get information about his death.

“We have called for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstances of his death and accountability … as appropriate.”

The teen, who was born and raised in Gretna, La., but relocated to Palestinian territory last year with his parents and four siblings, was shot dead by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank on Friday, according to Palestinian health officials.

Ajjaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said the American-born youth was shot in the head and chest while having a barbeque with a friend in a village field.

Israeli police later said they’d received a report about a “firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian,” though the exact circumstances of the shooting remain unclear.

Cops haven’t disclosed who fired the fatal shots but said the shooting had targeted people who had “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities” along a main thoroughfare in the West Bank.

The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry says 369 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terror group’s surprise cross-border attack triggered the devastating war.

Most of the dead Palestinians were killed during shootouts in the West Bank that the Israeli military says began during operations to arrest Palestinian gunmen.

While the US has given military and diplomatic support to Israel in its war on Hamas, it has repeatedly urged the Jewish country to scale back the intensity of its attacks.

Nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israel’s offensive, Gaza health officials said.

With Post wires