US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the killing of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was ‘unprovoked and unjustified’.
Israel’s army says it is rather possible its troopers fired the shot that killed an American-Turkish lady at a protest within the occupied West Financial institution final week however says her demise was unintentional and expresses deep remorse.
Turkish and Palestinian officers stated on Friday that Israeli troopers shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been participating in an illustration towards settlement growth throughout an everyday protest march by activists in Beita, a village close to Nablus.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Israeli military stated it had performed an inquiry into the incident.
“The inquiry discovered that it’s extremely possible that she was hit not directly and unintentionally by [Israeli military] hearth which was not geared toward her, however aimed on the key instigator of the riot,” the army stated.
“The incident happened throughout a violent riot wherein dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tyres and hurled rocks in direction of safety forces on the Beita Junction.”
The Israeli army “expresses its deepest remorse over the demise of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi”, it added and stated the army had additionally “despatched a request to hold out an post-mortem”.
The Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights had earlier stated Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot within the head”.
Eygi was a member of the Worldwide Solidarity Motion (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation that on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as “false” and stated the demonstration was peaceable.
Eygi’s killing got here amid a surge of violence within the West Financial institution since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October with growing Israeli raids, assaults by Palestinian fighters on Israelis, assaults by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and heavier army crackdowns on Palestinian protests.
Greater than 690 Palestinians have been killed, in accordance with Palestinian well being officers.
The Palestinian Authority held a funeral procession for Eygi within the West Financial institution metropolis of Nablus on Monday. Turkish authorities additionally stated they’re engaged on repatriating her physique to Turkey for burial within the Aegean coastal city of Didim per her household’s needs.
US says killing ‘unjustified’
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Eygi’s killing was “unprovoked and unjustified” and confirmed Israeli safety forces must make basic modifications of their guidelines of engagement.
“Nobody ought to be shot whereas attending a protest. In our judgement, the Israeli safety forces must make some basic modifications in the way in which they function within the West Financial institution,” he stated.
“We now have the second American citizen killed by the hands of Israeli safety forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to vary.”
The deaths of Americans within the West Financial institution have drawn worldwide consideration previously, such because the deadly capturing of a distinguished Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera correspondent, in 2022 within the Jenin refugee camp.
Human rights teams stated Israel hardly ever holds troopers accountable for killing Palestinians and any army investigations typically replicate a sample of impunity.
The Israeli army, nonetheless, has repeatedly stated it totally investigates allegations of killings of civilians and holds its forces accountable.
However even in essentially the most surprising circumstances – and people captured on video – troopers typically get comparatively gentle sentences, resembling within the 2017 case of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria.
The fight medic was convicted of manslaughter and served 9 months after he killed a wounded, incapacitated Palestinian within the West Financial institution metropolis of Hebron. The person, Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif, had been shot after the Israeli military stated he stabbed an Israeli soldier.
The case deeply divided Israelis with the army saying Azaria had clearly violated its code of ethics whereas many Israelis – significantly on the nationalist proper – defended his actions and accused army brass of second-guessing a soldier working in harmful circumstances.
