Department of State has voiced its support for an investigation into the Wednesday death of an elderly Palestinian American man who his family and local officials said was detained by Israeli soldiers during a raid on an occupied West Bank village.

And, as you may have seen, the Israeli Defense Forces have indicated there is an ongoing investigation into the matter,” Price continued.

The Israeli Defense Force told Reuters that soldiers carried out an overnight raid in Jiljilya and that a Palestinian was “apprehended after resisting a check.” The IDF claimed the man was alive when soldiers released him, despite other detainees claiming they witnessed otherwise.

Fouad Qattoum, the head of Jiljilya’s village council, told news outlets that Asaad was driving home after visiting relatives when Israeli soldiers stopped his car, handcuffed him, blindfolded him and led him to a building under construction, as documented by security cameras.

Another village resident said he saw Israeli soldiers walking Asaad away at around 3 a.m.

He was detained and assaulted by Israeli occupation forces during an overnight raid in Jiljilya village.

The 80-year-old’s body was found over an hour later by a local farmer, 52-year-old Murawaeh Arouri, who told The New Arab that he was detained by Israeli forces at the same place.

Arouri told the publication that he was driving back to his village with his co-worker when the IDF forced them out of the car and took them to an “abandoned house,” where he saw soldiers standing around a body.

I saw his foot first and told my co-worker, who thought I was hallucinating out of fear,” Arouri said.

Islam Abu Zaher, who said he tried to resuscitate Asaad but found no pulse, told Reuters that the cause of death was not immediately clear without an autopsy but that it’s possible the elderly man “suffered a heart attack or some form of panic,” given his history of heart operations.

“Abu Hani was martyred, affected by the deployment of the occupation soldiers at dawn today,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a Facebook statement on Wednesday, referring to Asaad by the name he’s called in his village.