A Turkish-American woman participating in a protest against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was shot and killed by Israeli troops on Friday, according to Palestinian and Turkish officials.
The woman, identified as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, held both US and Turkish citizenship.
Eygi, a recent graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, had studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures.University president Ana Mari Cauce described the news of her death as “awful” and noted that Eygi had a “positive influence” on other students.
Eygi’s family described her as a “fiercely passionate human rights activist” who had recently taken part in college campus protests against US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. They urged President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to initiate an independent US investigation into her death.
Aria Fani, an assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington, told the Guardian, “I begged her not to go (to the West Bank), but she had this deep conviction that she wanted to participate in the tradition of bearing witness to the oppression of people and their dignified resilience.”
The university president stated, “Aysenur was a peer mentor in psychology who helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives.”
According to the Israeli military, their troops had fired at a male “main instigator” who was throwing rocks at soldiers, posing a threat. The military stated that they were investigating reports of a female foreign national being killed as a result of the shots fired in the area and that the details and circumstances surrounding her death were under review.
Rafidia Hospital in Nablus received Eygi in critical condition with a severe head injury, according to the hospital’s head, Fouad Nafaa, who spoke to Reuters. “We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died,” he said.
The incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has witnessed frequent attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers, as reported by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.
The White House expressed deep concern over Eygi’s death and urged Israel to investigate the incident while Turkey’s foreign ministry stated that she was shot in the head and held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government responsible for her death.
The woman, identified as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, held both US and Turkish citizenship.
Eygi, a recent graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, had studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures.University president Ana Mari Cauce described the news of her death as “awful” and noted that Eygi had a “positive influence” on other students.
Eygi’s family described her as a “fiercely passionate human rights activist” who had recently taken part in college campus protests against US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. They urged President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to initiate an independent US investigation into her death.
Aria Fani, an assistant professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington, told the Guardian, “I begged her not to go (to the West Bank), but she had this deep conviction that she wanted to participate in the tradition of bearing witness to the oppression of people and their dignified resilience.”
The university president stated, “Aysenur was a peer mentor in psychology who helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives.”
According to the Israeli military, their troops had fired at a male “main instigator” who was throwing rocks at soldiers, posing a threat. The military stated that they were investigating reports of a female foreign national being killed as a result of the shots fired in the area and that the details and circumstances surrounding her death were under review.
Rafidia Hospital in Nablus received Eygi in critical condition with a severe head injury, according to the hospital’s head, Fouad Nafaa, who spoke to Reuters. “We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died,” he said.
The incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has witnessed frequent attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers, as reported by WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.
The White House expressed deep concern over Eygi’s death and urged Israel to investigate the incident while Turkey’s foreign ministry stated that she was shot in the head and held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government responsible for her death.
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