Partner of US-Turkish activist shot by Israel says her killing was not an accident

Israeli army had said it 'unintentionally' shot Aysenur Eygi dead

The body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, will be buried in the Aydin district of Turkey's Aegean coastal region. Reuters

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The partner of a US-Turkish citizen shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week has said her death was "no accident".

Aysenur Eygi, 26, was killed on Friday during a protest in the village of Beita near Nablus while volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

"An activist and volunteer, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering," her partner Hamid Ali wrote in a statement released on social media. She had been attending a protest against Israeli operations in the area, such as building settlements considered illegal under international law, the ISM said in a separate statement.

"She was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that came from an Israeli sniper positioned 200 metres away. This was no accident and her killers must be held accountable," Mr Ali said.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it was "highly likely" Ms Eygi had been "unintentionally" shot by an Israeli soldier.

“The inquiry found that 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,” an Israeli military statement summarising an initial inquiry read.

Ms Eygi's family has demanded an independent US investigation into her killing – a request supported by some members of Congress, including Chuy Garcia, who said she was an American citizen killed while, "protesting illegal Israeli occupation" in the West Bank. "I support her family’s call for an independent investigation into her death," he wrote in a statement on X.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel has “serious issues” to be dealt with over Ms Eygi's death. At a press conference in the UK with Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, he said initial investigations had confirmed her killing was “unprovoked and unjustified”.

“No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest,” he said. "In my judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes in their rules of engagement. We have seen excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. It is not acceptable."

Washington has said it will not be carrying out an inquiry into Ms Eygi's death. “We are working closely to ascertain the facts, but there is not a State Department-led investigation that is going on,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Monday.

A recent graduate of Washington University, Ms Eygi had been volunteering with the pro-Palestine International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the West Bank at the time of her death. The Israeli army said the shooting took place “during a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burnt tyres and hurled rocks towards security forces”.

In a statement, the ISM refuted claims that its volunteers had thrown rocks. “Aysenur was more than 200 metres away from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot,” it said.

The army said Israel has sent a request to carry out an autopsy. It is unclear if this request will be granted before her body is returned to Turkey, where she will be buried in the Aydin district on the country’s Aegean coast. Turkish officials are still working on repatriating the body of Ms Eygi, who has relatives in Turkey but had been living in Seattle. The date and time of burial are unclear.

The incident is likely to further strain the tense relationship between Israel and Ankara. Turkey’s Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told state media that his government would pursue Israel in international courts over Ms Eygi's killing.

“As Turkey, we will of course follow up on her rights and we will defend her rights to the end, in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and through our own legal work,” the minister told the TRT news channel. He did not elaborate on how Turkey would proceed with a possible legal case against Israel.

Ms Aysenur's killing has prompted responses from senior Turkish officials and business leaders, including the chairman of Baykar, the country's leading manufacturer of military drones, Selcuk Bayraktar, who wrote on X that she was, "martyred by the treacherous bullets of the terror state of Israel."

Ms Eygi is not the first American citizen to be shot dead by Israeli security forces. The parents of Rachel Corrie, another American activist killed by the Israeli army in 2003, called on the US to hold the Israeli government accountable for Ms Eygi's killing.

“In the cases of other Americans killed by the Israeli military, including in our daughter Rachel's case, the US government has been unable, or unwilling, to hold those responsible to account," the parents said. "We need to do better this time.”

Memorial services are being held for Ms Eygi in the US and the occupied West Bank. Friends and fellow activists circulated a poster for a memorial in Seattle taking place on Wednesday, while local authorities in Beitna village have also planned a vigil.