Israel says ‘highly likely’ its forces shot slain American activist
Sep 10, 2024, 8:22 AM | Updated: 12:26 pm
The Israeli military said American activist Aysenur Eygi was likely hit "unintentionally" by IDF fire in the occupied West Bank on Friday. (Aysenur Eygi Family)
(Aysenur Eygi Family)
(CNN) — The Israel Defense Forces, sometimes called IDF, said it is “highly likely” American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed during a protest in the occupied West Bank on Friday, was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire.”
The military said in a statement Tuesday that the shot was not aimed at the activist but at “the key instigator” of a “violent riot” at the Beita Junction where it said Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks at Israeli security forces. It didn’t name the alleged instigator.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Eygi’s killing as unacceptable at a news conference in London on Tuesday and said the Israeli security forces needed to make “fundamental changes” to how they operate in the West Bank, “including changes to the rules of engagement.”
“No one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for expressing their views,” he said. “Now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”
The Israeli military said American activist Aysenur Eygi was likely hit “unintentionally” by IDF fire in the occupied West Bank on Friday. (Aysenur Eygi Family)
Blinken added that the United States had “long seen” reports of Israeli forces ignoring extremist settler violence against Palestinians and reports of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Eyewitnesses told CNN on Friday that the 26-year-old activist, who is also a Turkish citizen, was shot by Israeli forces while participating in a weekly protest against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Beita. All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Eygi, a recent graduate of the University of Washington, had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the same pro-Palestinian activist group as Rachel Corrie, a US citizen killed in 2003 while attempting to stop an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza.
The ISM said that its protest on September 6 was peaceful.
The IDF said on Tuesday that an investigation was launched by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID), the findings of which will be submitted for review by the Military Advocate General’s Corps.
Eygi’s family had blamed Israel for her killing and called on US leaders for an independent investigation, saying an Israel-led probe would be inadequate.
Violence from the Israeli offensive in Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has spilled into the occupied West Bank in recent months. The IDF began a major raid in multiple parts of the territory last month, bulldozing highways and razing buildings in the process.
Israeli troops and settlers have killed 692 Palestinians, including 158 children, in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, whose figures do not distinguish between militants and civilians.
