An American women partaking in a protest against Israel’s settlement and expansion in the West Bank was fatally shot in the head.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was at a weekly demonstration against a settlement close to the Palestinian village of Beita on Friday when she was struck by Israeli troops, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The dual US-Turkish citizen’s death was confirmed by the US State Department and Turkish Foreign Ministry. The latter called it a ‘murder carried out by the Netanyahu government’.
‘Israel is trying to intimidate all those who come to the aid of the Palestinian people and who fight peacefully against the genocide,’ stated the ministry of President Benjamin Netanyahu’s country.
‘This policy of violence will not work.’
Eygi was a volunteer peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement, which brings those with its cause to Palestinian territories. She died shortly after being rushed to a hospital in Nablus, according to the organization.
‘The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with violence from the Israeli army stationed on a hill,’ stated the movement.
Her family’s ‘wish to grieve in peace should be respected by all, as they navigate this tragic and difficult situation’, it added.
The US did not immediately confirm that Eygi was killed by Israeli soldiers, but White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett said they were ‘deeply disturbed’.
US ambassador to Israel, Jacob Lew, expressed ‘deepest condolences’ to Eygi’s family.
‘We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more,’ Lew wrote on X (formerly Twitter). ‘We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens.’
Eygi graduated form the University of Washington in Seattle in the spring.
She is the third activist with the movement to be killed since 2000 and the 18th protestor to die amid the unstable situation in Beita since 2020.
‘Aysenur was so energetic, and incredibly passionate about justice,’ a friend and fellow activist, Juliette Majid, told The New York Times.
‘Her loss is felt profoundly.’
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