Family of 26 y/o woman killed by 'Israel' demands independent probe

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Sep 2024 15:14

The family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American woman killed in the West Bank, says the Israeli military "unlawfully and violently" killed the 26-year-old.

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The body of Turkish-American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, lies in a hospital morgue in Nablus on September 7, 2024. (AFP)

The family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American woman killed by Israeli occupation forces while protesting against settlements expansion in the occupied West Bank, has called for an independent investigation into her death, accusing the Israeli military of killing her "violently".

The United Nations rights office said that Eygi, 26, was "shot in the head" while attending a demonstration in Beita, West Bank, on Friday.

"Her presence in our lives was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military," Eygi's family expressed in a statement.

"A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter," the statement pointed out.

"We call on President (Joe) Biden, Vice President (Kamala) Harris, and Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties."

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization, and was participating in a regular demonstration against Israeli settlements, ISM indicated.

The group on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as "false" and affirmed that the demonstration was peaceful.

"Aysenur was more than 200 meters away from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot," the ISM indicated in a statement.

While the US called the incident a "tragic" event and urged "Israel" to investigate, Eygi's family insists that "an Israeli investigation is not adequate."

The family said Aysenur always advocated "an end to the violence against the people of Palestine."

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli occupation forces or settlers have killed at least 662 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023.

Palestinian doctors are set to conduct an autopsy on Eygi, with suspicions that she may have been deliberately killed by a sniper, a senior Turkish official told Sputnik.

"According to the information provided by the Palestinian Authority to our Consulate General in Jerusalem, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi may have been deliberately killed by a sniper. The Palestinian Authority noted that journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in a similar manner in 2022. Therefore, Palestinian doctors will also conduct an autopsy. They believe that the bullet was live, not rubber," the source said.

Abu Akleh, famed Al Jazeera journalist and veteran reporter, was murdered on May 11 when Israeli occupation forces storming the Jenin refugee camp, north of the West Bank, shot her with a live bullet to the head as she was covering the events of the storming.