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Tariq khdeir's family say he was beaten by Israeli police
Tariq's family is visiting relatives in east Jerusalem
The United States has called for speedy investigation of an incident in which it said a US citizen of Palestinian descent appeared to have been badly beaten by Israeli paramilitary police.
A video clip circulated on the internet yesterday showed two Israeli Border police holding down and repeatedly pummelling a masked youth before carrying him away.
The family of Tariq Khdeir, 15, from Tampa, Florida, who was visiting family in east Jerusalem, say he was the target of the punches.
The footage is blurred and the victim cannot be identified as he appears also to be wearing a head covering.
A later part of the video shows Khdeir's face with a heavy black eye and swollen lip.
He is the cousin of Mohammed Abu Khudair, the youth Palestinians believe was abducted and murdered by far-right Israelis on Wednesday.
The Israeli Justice Ministry said in a statement that the police investigations department was looking into the incident.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the youth was visited by an official from the consulate in Jerusalem yesterday.
"We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force.
"We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force," Ms Psaki said.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Khdeir was one of six rioters caught and detained in the incident, three of whom were found to be carrying knives.
Separately, Israeli aircraft attacked ten sites used by Palestinian militants in Gaza this morning in response to persistent rocket strikes from the enclave, the Israeli military said.
Rocket launchers and a weapons manufacturing facility were among the targets of the air strikes, which followed the firing of a rocket, intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome system late yesterday, at the major southern city of Beersheba.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the airstrikes.
The current flare up began in mid-June after Israel began a crackdown in the occupied West Bank on Hamas, whose power base is in Gaza, after blaming the Islamist group for the abduction of three Israeli teenagers.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli allegations.
The Israeli youngsters' bodies were found in the West Bank last week.
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