Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders shook hands, talked and prayed together as they gathered in Chicago to urge unity across divides and denounce hate, while the region continued to reel from the savage killing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in an alleged hate crime.

Imams and rabbis had already attended the funeral earlier in the week of Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had only recently celebrated his sixth birthday with his family in Plainfield, on the outskirts of Chicago, when the landlord, shouting Islamophobic curses, stabbed the boy and his mother last weekend.

Wadea’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, is still in the hospital and was not able to attend her son’s funeral.

On Wednesday, religious leaders came together at the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) to offer condolences and support to the family and call, in a press conference, for an interfaith response – amid the worsening crisis in Israel and Gaza that is also fueling tension, threats and hate crimes overseas.

“We all are shocked by the brutal killing of the six-year-old American Palestinian boy who had done nothing wrong,” said Abdulgany Hamadeh, the chair of the CIOGC.

He called for prayer for Shahin’s recovery and said: “We also denounce all the hate-inspired speech and demand that the media and elected officials cease to promote text … that discredits or marginalizes a group of people based upon their race, ethnicity or religious beliefs. This is leading to violence. All faith traditions respect the sanctity of life.”

Sarah van Loon attended the gathering as the regional director of the American Jewish Committee of Chicago and said it was vital that people of many faiths come together to support the Muslim community.

“As a Jewish person, I really want to make sure that in this moment, we’re talking about Wadea and his family – that we’re centering the Muslim and Palestinian communities here,” she said, adding that: “We join them in mourning and weeping for this horrific tragedy and for this child’s life that was taken far too soon.”

Van Loon called it “sickening” that a child and his mother were targeted for their religion and national origin.

“​​That type of hate should never exist, certainly not in Illinois, or America or around the world,” she said.

The family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, 71, was arrested and is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He remains in Will county custody.

He lived in the apartment above Wadea’s family and, according to Shahin, had been regarded as a friend and a grandfatherly figure to Wadea, who suspected nothing when Czuba came to their apartment, she told the authorities.

According to court documents, he expressed anger about the Hamas killings in Israel. Despite Shahin suggesting they pray together for peace, he allegedly shouted: “You Muslims must die!” and attacked the pair. Czuba’s wife, Mary, told investigators that Czuba frequently listened to conservative talk radio and had become obsessed with the Israel-Hamas conflict and paranoid.

At a Tuesday night vigil in Plainfield, hosted at Wadea’s school and among many of his classmates and friends, hundreds came together to honor his life. He was described as having enjoyed coloring, playing with toys and loving basketball. A pro-Palestinian protest in downtown Chicago held a moment of silence for Wadea.