Israel says it is “highly likely” its forces killed dual US-Türkiye citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi “unintentionally” during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week.
On Friday, local time, the 26-year-old was protesting against the establishment of a Jewish settlement in a northern West Bank village — one of many considered illegal under international law.
Doctors who treated Ms Eygi say she was shot in the head. She had arrived in the West Bank just days before.
Palestinians march to honour Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. (Reuters: Raneen Sawafta)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a preliminary inquiry into her death, saying it is “highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot”.
“The IDF expresses its deepest regret over the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi,” it added.
Ms Eygi’s family called for an independent investigation into her death after the IDF released its preliminary findings, which they rejected.
“The Israeli military’s preliminary inquiry into Ayşenur’s killing is wholly inadequate; we are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional,” they said.
A Palestinian honour guard carries the body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi during her funeral procession. (AP: Nasser Nasser)
“The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling.
“Ayşenur, an activist and volunteer, was peacefully standing for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering; she was taking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier.
“This cannot be misconstrued as anything except a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian.”
Ms Eygi was volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian group opposed to the Israeli occupation.
They say shots were aimed directly at Ms Eygi, who had graduated three months ago from the University of Washington, where she studied Psychology and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting, told AP clashes broke out after soldiers surrounded the group, with Palestinians throwing stones and troops firing tear gas and live ammunition.
Two soldiers standing on the roof of a nearby home trained a gun in the group’s direction and shot at them — hitting Ms Eygi — about half an hour after clashes had subsided, Mr Pollak said.
Another ISM volunteer, Mariam Dag, also said she saw an Israeli soldier on a rooftop.
In a statement on the IDF findings, the group said: “The ISM entirely rejects this specious claim and continues to demand an independent investigation of the Israeli army’s killing of our comrade Ayşenur Eygi.”
Israeli peace activist Jonathan Pollak stands near the site where Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed. (Reuters: Ammar Awad)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned the fatal shooting when asked about the IDF findings at a press conference in London.
“No-one, no-one, should be shot and killed for attending a protest,” he said.
“In our judgement, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.
“It has to change,” he added. “And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”
The Palestinian Authority held a funeral procession for Ms Eygi in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, local time.
Turkish authorities said they were working on repatriating her body for burial in the Aegean coastal town of Didim, as per her family’s wishes.
