US woman Aysenur Ezgi Eygi shot dead by Israeli troops at West Bank protest
The Turkish-American activist, 26, was reportedly shot in the head while taking part in a demonstration against settlement expansion
Israeli troops shot and killed a Turkish-American woman who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian and Turkish officials said.
The White House said it was deeply disturbed by the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and called on Israel to investigate. Turkey’s foreign ministry said she was shot in the head, and placed blame on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for her death.
Palestinian officials described her as a 26-year-old activist who held both US and Turkish citizenship.
Eygi graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle recently, the school’s president, Ana Mari Cauce, said in a statement that described news of her death as “awful” while adding that Eygi had a “positive influence” on other students.
She studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the university, her family said in a statement late on Friday that was shared by the pro-Palestinian organisation Institute of Middle East Understanding.
Israel’s military said its troops had fired toward a male “main instigator” who posed a threat by hurling rocks at soldiers.
