President Joe Biden has called for full accountability over the killing of U.S. citizen Aysenur Eygi at the hands of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the West Bank.
Eygi, 26, was participating in a demonstration against illegal Israeli settlements when she was fatally shot in the head by an Israeli soldier on Sept. 6. The American activist of Turkish origin had traveled to the region as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that advocates for Palestinian rights.
The IDF said “it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot,” according to a Tuesday press release.
Biden said he is “outraged and deeply saddened” by Eygi’s death.
“Aysenur was a recent U.S. college graduate. She was also an activist whose idealism led her to travel to the West Bank to peacefully protest the expansion of settlements. The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable,” the president said in a statement released Wednesday.
He said Israel has taken responsibility for Eygi’s death, calling it “a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation.”
“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” Biden continued. “The violence in the West Bank has been going on for too long. Violent extremist Israeli settlers are uprooting Palestinians from their homes. Palestinian terrorists are sending car bombs to kill civilians. I will continue to support policies that hold all extremists – Israelis and Palestinians alike – accountable for stoking violence and serving as obstacles to peace.”
The president also pledged to stay in touch with Israeli and Palestinian authorities regarding the events that led up to Eygi being shot.
In a separate statement, Vice President Kamala Harris referred to the incident as “a horrific tragedy that never should have happened.”
“No one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest,” she said. “The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF personnel in the West Bank. Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”
“We will continue to press the government of Israel for answers and for continued access to the findings of the investigation so we can have confidence in the results. There must be full accountability,” Harris added.
As SCNR previously reported, eyewitnesses and Palestinian officials told CNN that the Israeli military was responsible for the shooting. Israeli forces stated that demonstrators had been throwing rocks at soldiers. American 🇺🇸 human rights activist shot to death by Israeli 🇮🇱 soldiers near Nablus, occupied West Bank, Palestine 🇵🇸
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a Turkish 🇹🇷 woman with American citizenship, was killed by Israeli army fire during a protest in the West Bank town of Beita, near Nablus… pic.twitter.com/6EK1BTgLn0
— Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) September 6, 2024
Dr. Hisham Dweikat, a Beita resident who attended the protest, told the outlet that as the demonstration was winding down, the Israeli military began firing tear gas into the crowd.
“As people were running away, live fire was shot, and a soldier fired directly at the protesters, hitting the American activist in the head from behind,” Dweikat said.
Vivi Chen, an American activist who volunteers for the same organization as Eygi, said, “We were all at the bottom of the hill and the Israeli army was at the top. 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.”
