Israel says ‘highly likely’ army fire killed US-Turkish activist in West Bank
The shooting of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi during a West Bank protest, has sparked international condemnation
The Israeli military said Tuesday that an American activist who was killed in the West Bank last week was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces, who were aiming at someone else.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, was killed on Friday following a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.
The military said its inquiry “found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by (Israeli army) fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot.”
The White House had earlier said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship, and called on Israel to investigate what happened.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called the killing of Eygi “unprovoked and unjustified” and shows that the Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in their rules of engagement.
“No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest,” Blinken told a news conference in London, delivering his harshest comments to date against the Israeli military.
