On 6 September 2024, 26-year-old Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a U.S. and Turkish dual citizen, was shot and killed by Israeli military forces during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Eygi was born in Turkey in 1998 and raised in Seattle, Washington. She arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 3 September 2024 to engage in activism work with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
The weekly protest in Beita against settlement expansion has been held for years and often been the site of Israeli crackdown. Since March 2020, seventeen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attending the protest, and in August 2024 an American protester was shot in the leg by Israeli forces while fleeing live fire and tear gas. Two other U.S. citizens had been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. Eygi was the third to be shot dead by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2024, after Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour. On each occasion, the U.S. government condemned the killings without investigating. On 10 September 2024, Israel claimed that Eygi was "likely unintentionally shot" by its forces. This has been contested by witnesses and rejected by Eygi's family, who argue that it is inadequate for Israel to investigate itself. Video evidence obtained by The Washington Post also fails to support Israel's story.
Biography
Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi (27 July 1998 – 6 September 2024) was a Turkish-born American human rights activist and peer mentor. She was born in Antalya, Turkey, on 27 July 1998. Her family moved to the United States when she was less than a year old. Eygi was raised in Seattle and attended West Seattle High School. She graduated from Seattle Central College in 2022 with an associate's degree in arts. Later, she graduated from the University of Washington with a major in psychology and a minor in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.
Eygi had previously been involved in protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and was active in pro-Palestinian activism on the UW campus. She was considering attending graduate school to study Near East archaeology.
Eygi participated in the Faz3a (Faz'a) movement, which fights for the rights of Palestinian farmers persecuted by the Israeli military and attacked by settlers. She was also a member of the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement, like Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie.
Background
Eygi arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 3 September 2024 to engage in activism work with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). According to her family, she had been compelled to travel to the Israeli-occupied West Bank to stand with Palestinian civilians enduring ongoing repression and violence. Two other U.S. citizens have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. It was also the third high-profile killing of a U.S. citizen by Israeli forces in recent years, following the killings of Omar Assad and Shireen Abu Akleh.
The weekly protest in Beita against settlement expansion has been held for years and often been the site of Israeli crackdown. Since March 2020, seventeen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attending the protest and in August 2024 an American protester was shot in the leg by Israeli forces while fleeing live fire and tear gas. Eygi entered the West Bank at the beginning of September and took part in the weekly protests in Beita. During a communal prayer primarily composed of men and children, IDF soldiers arrived and tried to disperse the group.
Shooting and death
On 6 September 2024, Eygi attended a protest in Beita, near the Israeli settlement of Evyatar. The protest, which is held weekly, calls for the end of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank.
According to Haaretz journalist Jonathan Pollak, who attended the event and is an activist with Defend Palestine, Israeli soldiers surrounded the group before a communal prayer held by Palestinian and non-Palestinian activists before the protest got underway. After the prayer, clashes broke out between the soldiers and the protesters. Witnesses reported that IDF forces employed both live fire and tear gas to drive the group back to their villages; in response, the protesters threw stones and then retreated from the area.
An Australian activist told The Washington Post that she and Eygi had meant to avoid rougher protests and, according to Pollak, Eygi was indeed shot during the subsequent calm. Some 20 to 30 minutes after the clashes ceased, soldiers scaled a house and positioned themselves on a rooftop 180 metres (200 yd) away. A protester standing with Eygi said, "We were standing, visible to the army—just standing around not doing anything. Nothing was happening." One soldier fired and a shot ricocheted off a stone and struck a local 18-year-old Palestinian man in the thigh. After a second shot was fired, Pollak reported being called over to help Eygi, whom he found lying under an olive tree with a bullet wound in the head. He added that she lay in the direct line of sight of the soldiers on the rooftop. According to Pollak, the soldiers were under no threat. In a later statement, ISM said that its activists had not thrown rocks at Israeli soldiers, that the demonstration was peaceful, and that no danger to the soldiers was conceivable as they were 200 metres (660 ft) away from the protesters. Footage obtained by the Washington Post shows that Eygi was shot more than 30 minutes after clashes had ended.
According to Pollak, while a clash had occurred in a previous incident that day, soldiers were under no threat, and Eygi was killed during a separate event. He saw two soldiers, positioned atop a nearby house, aiming a gun toward the demonstrators and opening fire. Pollak said that Eygi was 10 meters (33 ft) away from him when she was shot in the head, and that she was bleeding to death next to an olive tree. The ISM contradicted the IDF's claim that its soldiers had been subjected to stone throwing by Eygi's group, saying, “Ayşenur was more than 200 metres (660 ft) away from where the Israeli soldiers were and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot.”
Eygi was brought to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, where she was confirmed dead. The hospital director, Fouad Naffa, and another doctor who administered first aid, Ward Basalat, confirmed to the media that Eygi had been shot in the head.
Aftermath
Eygi's remains were repatriated to Turkey and buried at Didim on 14 September in a ceremony attended by Turkish vice president Cevdet Yilmaz, foreign minister Hakan Fidan, Grand National Assembly speaker Numan Kurtulmuş, and Republican People's Party leader Özgür Özel.
Responses
Eygi's family called for an independent investigation into her death. In a statement on social media, they said that Eygi was peacefully protesting when she was killed and that her life was "taken needlessly, unlawfully and violently by the Israeli military". In a public statement, they called on the U.S. government to conduct an independent investigation, saying it would be inadequate for Israel to investigate itself. On September 10, hours after Israel released the conclusion of its inquiry, in which it admitted that it was "highly likely" that Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper but alleged that it was unintentional, the family released another statement calling the Israeli inquiry "wholly inadequate" and adding, "we are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional. The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling."
Palestine
Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein al-Sheikh tweeted that Eygi's death was "another crime added to the series of crimes committed daily by the occupation forces". Hamas released a statement condemning the killing as "part of a pattern of violence against foreign supporters of the Palestinian cause, including the notable case of Rachel Corrie". The statement called on the international community to hold the Israeli government accountable.
Israel
The IDF confirmed on 6 September that troops had fired in Beita "toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them" and that the "details of the incident and the circumstances in which [Eygi] was hit are under review". The Israel Defense Forces wrote on social media platform X, "The IDF is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review." On 10 September 2024, the IDF stated that it was "highly likely" that she was shot by an Israeli soldier but that her killing was unintentional.
International
United States
The US State Department confirmed Eygi's death and identity on 6 September. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement that the U.S. was "deeply disturbed" by the event and requested that Israel open an investigation into Eygi's death. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also made a statement that the U.S. government would share more information as it became available, and "as necessary, we'll act on it". State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel declined to blame Israel for the killing and said the US government was not planning to press for an independent investigation, as Eygi's family demanded. On 11 September, Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the killing as "tragic" and "unacceptable" and called for "full accountability" for it. The same day, President Joe Biden demanded "full accountability" after initially accepting the Israeli explanation that the incident was accidental, without endorsing an independent investigation or pursuing consequences for the killing.
United States Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens." Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called on Blinken to "do something to save lives".
Turkey
A spokesperson of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Öncü Keçeli, said that Turkey would exert "all effort to ensure that those who killed our citizen is brought to justice." Another official statement by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, "We condemn this murder committed 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. This policy of violence will not work." Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the killing "barbaric".
Jordan
The Foreign Ministry of Jordan condemned Eygi's killing and asked for the perpetrators to be held responsible. It also said that the crime reflected the extremist policies of Israel's government, which "incite hatred, fuel extremism, and encourage settlers to target and kill Palestinians as well as those who stand in solidarity with Palestinians' legitimate rights."
Qatar
The Qatari Foreign Ministry put out a statement condemning Eygi's killing: "The heinous crime is part of a series of ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian cause and human rights. The silence of the international community regarding these violations is an incentive for the occupation to commit more atrocities".
Organizations
United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN wanted to see a "full investigation of the circumstances" of the incident. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed "huge shock" following the killing and said it would investigate the incident. The Peace & Justice Project organization said the attack was a result of "an emboldened Israel, committing acts of ethnic cleansing with the support of UK and US governments".
United States National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement to Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency: “We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, today in the West Bank and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones”. He added, "We have reached out to the Government of Israel to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident".
Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas in a statement to Reuters said “All legal measures will be submitted to the International Criminal Court” ... “The bullets do not distinguish between a Palestinian, a child, a woman, or any nationality” ... “Now her life is lost, she is an American citizen holding American nationality, which means Israel is crossing all lines.”