US ‘deeply disturbed’ after American activist killed in West Bank

The White House said Friday that the U.S. is “deeply disturbed” by the death of 26-year-old American activist Aysenur Eygi in the Israel-occupied West Bank, calling for Israel to investigate the killing.

Eygi, who was born in Turkey, was shot in the head during an antisettlement protest near Nablus, The Associated Press reported.

“We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Egzi Eygi, today in the West Bank and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement. “We have reached out to the government of Israel to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decried Israel’s “barbaric intervention against a civilian protest against the occupation in the West Bank,” in a post on the social platform X.

The Israeli military, which has admitted to firing at the demonstrators, say it is aware of the incident and are looking into it.

The armed forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them,” according to the group.

Eygi, who was volunteering in the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot while participating in a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlement expansion near the Palestinian village of Beita, according to multiple reports.

She was brought to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, where she was pronounced dead.

Hisham Dweikat, a Beita resident who took part in the demonstration, told CNN that the Israeli military began firing tear gas at the protesters as they were wrapping up. 

“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 and falling to the ground,” he said.

And Vivi Chen, an American activist who also was at the demonstration, told the outlet that it was “not an accident that they hit her in the head.” 

“They are one of the most advanced armies in the world. They have weapons from America. It is not an accident that they hit her in the head. That was on purpose,” Chen continued. “It’s not that they shot a hundred shots at the same time, and she was hit with one. We were all standing still, not moving. Just standing there, and they shot her through the head.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington is working to “gather the facts” around Eygi’s death.

Israeli forces have been found responsible for the killings of several Americans in the West Bank, including Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022. Still, the U.S. has not changed its policy regarding its support of Israel in its war against Hamas, continuing to supply the country with significant lethal aid.