Palestinian-American boy killed in US hate crime amid Israeli siege of Gaza

A landlord in Chicago in the US state of Illinois stabbed a 6-year-old boy to death and seriously wounded his mother in a hate crime driven by the family's Islamic faith and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The boy was stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, the Will County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The 32-year-old woman had multiple stab wounds and is expected to survive the attack that occurred on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.

"Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," the sheriff's office said.

“We are shocked and disturbed to learn that a landlord in Chicago expressing anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian views broke into a Muslim family's apartment and attacked them with a knife, injuring the mother and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al Fayoume,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) , the US’s largest Muslim civil rights organisation, said on X.

The attacker, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of a hate crime, said the sheriff’s office.

'Shocked and sickened'

US President Joe Biden denounced the murder of the Palestinian-American boy.

"(First lady) Jill and I were shocked and sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a six-year-old child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother in their home yesterday in Illinois," said Biden in a statement.

"This horrific act of hate has no place in America and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are," he said.

Biden urged Americans to unite against Islamophobia in the wake of the killing.

"As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone," he said.

"We join everyone here at the White House in sending our condolences and prayers to the family, including for the mother’s recovery, and to the broader Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim American communities.”

"The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace," he added.