An American activist was killed during a protest in the Israel-occupied West Bank, and U.S. officials are calling on Israel to investigate her death.
Aysenur Eygi, 26, was shot in the head while participating in an anti-settlement protest near Nablus, located in the West Bank. The demonstration occurs on a weekly basis in protest of the Israeli government’s occupation of the West Bank. Witnesses said Israeli military forces fired the bullet that killed her.
“We have reached out to the Government of Israel to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told CNN.
Palestinian officials blamed the Israeli military for allegedly throwing tear gas into the crowd before firing shots.
The Israel Defense Forces explained in a statement that its forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.”
The shooting occurred near the Palestinian village of Beita, which is right next to an Israeli outpost known as Evyatar. Israel legally authorized the settlement earlier this year. However, it remains under international dispute.
Vivi Chen, an American activist at the protest, said Eygi was hiding behind a dumpster at the bottom of a hill when the gunfire rang out.
“There were two volunteers sitting behind a dumpster, and they fired one shot at the dumpster. It hit a metal plane. And then there was another shot, and they shot — they shot her in the head,” Chen said.
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Paramedics placed Eygi, born in Turkey, on a stretcher. She was later pronounced dead at Rafidia hospital in Nablus.
Just nine days before Eygi’s death, the IDF started carrying out raids and airstrikes in the West Bank in an effort to “thwart Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure,” according to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
