The family of a Turkish-American activist shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank urged the United States to launch an independent inquiry into her killing, saying an Israeli probe was not “adequate”.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot by an Israeli soldier while taking part in a demonstration against illegal Israeli settlements near the West Bank village of Beita, near the city of Nablus, on Friday, according to witnesses and local authorities.
An autopsy confirmed that Eygi, who died of her wounds at a Nablus hospital, was killed by a sniper bullet to the head, Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas told media on Saturday.
Nablus, the governorate where Beita is located, will hold an official ceremony commemorating Eygi after her body is handed to her family, said Daghlas.
“A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed,” said her family in a statement on Saturday, describing her as a “fiercely passionate human rights activist”.
“Her presence in our lives was taken needlessly, unlawfully and violently by the Israeli military,” the statement said.
Responding to Eygi’s killing, the Israeli military said its forces had fired towards “a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks” at them during a protest, and that it was looking into reports that a foreign national was killed.
Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation. The group on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as “false” and said the demonstration was peaceful.
Several witnesses said an Israeli sniper, stationed on a nearby rooftop, shot Eygi after she moved into an olive grove.
“A sniper fired from a building – one or two shots – and they targeted and murdered Aysenur,” said British rights activist Rob Sadler, disputing the notion she posed any threat to Israeli forces.
US National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said President Joe Biden’s administration was “deeply disturbed by [Eygi’s] tragic death” and had asked Israel to investigate.