A twin US-Turkish nationwide succumbed to her wounds on Friday after being shot within the head earlier within the day by Israeli army forces within the northern occupied West Financial institution.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was participating in an anti-settlement march held by activists within the city of Beita, south of Nablus, when Israeli forces opened hearth on them, reported WAFA, the official Palestinian information company.
Israeli troopers fired reside ammunition, smoke bombs and tear fuel on the crowds, additionally injuring an 18-year-old demonstrator, in accordance with WAFA.
Eygi was taken to the Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, the place she was later pronounced useless. Hospital officers confirmed a bullet to the top as the reason for demise, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Information Company reported.
Hisham Dweikat, an anti-settlement activist from Beita who was at right now’s demonstration, instructed Al-Monitor that Eygi was half of a giant group of volunteers that go each Friday to protest in opposition to a proposed settlement. The group comes “each Friday and reveals solidarity peacefully. There have by no means been confrontations, weapons or threats of killing, to not the troopers nor to anybody,” he stated.
Dweikat added that the protesters got no warning to disperse. “They fired the fuel instantly.”
He stated that after the tear fuel was fired, small clashes and skirmishes ensued. “Youngsters have been throwing stones; it was not directed” at something, he stated.
About half-hour handed between when tear fuel was fired and Eygi was hit, Dweikat stated.
The Israeli army stated it was reviewing the scenario in a Friday assertion studying, “At the moment, throughout Israeli safety forces exercise adjoining to the world of Beita, the forces responded with hearth towards a important instigator of violent exercise who hurled rocks on the forces and posed a menace to them.”
“The IDF is trying into studies {that a} international nationwide was killed on account of pictures fired within the space. The small print of the incident and the circumstances through which she was hit are beneath evaluate,” the assertion went on.
Eygi was a volunteer with the native Faz3a initiative, a marketing campaign launched in 2019 by activists to guard Palestinian farmers whereas harvesting their crops within the face of settler assaults. Anti-settlement protests like right now’s have grow to be a weekly occasion as Israel has continued to broaden settlements and assaults on Palestinians by settlers have elevated.
🚨An American peace activist was shot and killed throughout a weekly protest within the West Financial institution village of Beta, close to Nablus.
These demonstrations, typically met with reside hearth, spotlight how beneath Israeli army rule, there isn’t a authorized approach to protest peacefully. pic.twitter.com/ysc4O79FkA
— Etan Nechin (@Etanetan23) September 6, 2024
Born within the Turkish Mediterranean province of Antalya, Eygi held twin Turkish-US citizenship, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Company reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned “Israel’s barbaric intervention in opposition to a civilian protest in opposition to the occupation within the West Financial institution,” in a publish on X.
“We’ll proceed to work on each platform to finish this occupation and genocide coverage that has been occurring for nearly a yr,” he added.
The Turkish International Ministry launched a press release through which it condemned “the Netanyahu authorities for the homicide” of Eygi, saying, “Israel is attempting to intimidate everybody who rushes to assistance from Palestinians and engages in peaceable resistance in opposition to the genocide.”
The assertion additionally tacitly addressed america. “The Israeli authorities, who commit crimes in opposition to humanity, and those that assist them unconditionally, will definitely be held accountable earlier than worldwide courts,” it learn.
Within the first remark by Washington on the incident, US State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller stated in a press release, “We’re conscious of the tragic demise of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, right now within the West Financial institution. We provide our deepest condolences to her household and family members. We’re urgently gathering extra details about the circumstances of her demise, and may have extra to say as we study extra. We’ve no increased precedence than the security and safety of Americans.”
Eygi is at the least the third US citizen recognized to have been killed within the West Financial institution for the reason that Israel-Hamas struggle erupted in Gaza final October.
In February, Palestinian-American Mohammad Ahmad Alkhdour, 17, was reportedly shot twice by Israeli forces whereas driving his automotive close to the city of Biddu, northwest of Jerusalem.
Earlier in January, one other 17-year-old Palestinian-American nationwide, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, was killed in related circumstances. Whereas driving alongside a freeway within the northern West Financial institution, Jabbar got here beneath hearth by Israeli settlers, in accordance with native studies, inflicting his automotive to overturn.
Washington condemned each killings, whereas Israeli police vowed to open investigations.
Eygi’s killing comes as tensions within the West Financial institution stay excessive after Israel launched a significant army operation in opposition to armed teams final week throughout the occupied territory.
Along with each day army raids in its cities and villages, West Financial institution Palestinians have additionally skilled an increase in assaults by settlers for the reason that outbreak of the Gaza struggle.
At the very least 1,264 incidents of settler violence — together with armed assaults, harassment and destruction of property — came about between Oct. 7, 2023, and Aug. 12, 2024, the Worldwide Disaster Group stated in a report launched Friday, citing information from the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The violence within the West Financial institution has resulted in at the least 652 Palestinians being killed between Oct. 7 and Sept. 2, OCHA stated in a report on Wednesday. Of these, 634 have been killed by Israeli troopers and 11 by Israeli settlers. The remaining seven deaths weren’t attributed.
This creating story has been up to date since preliminary publication.
