Body of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Eygi, shot by Israel, to arrive in Turkey on Friday

Palestinian autopsy report says death was caused by severe bleeding and swelling of brain

Aysenur Eygi was shot dead while volunteering with a pro-Palestinian solidarity group in the village of Beita near Nablus. AP

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The remains of US-Turkish citizen Aysenur Eygi, who was shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week, will arrive in Turkey on Friday for burial.

“The body of the deceased is expected to arrive in our country tomorrow,” Turkey's Foreign Ministry said. In a Palestinian autopsy report seen by The National, doctors confirmed her death was caused by a gunshot wound to the head.

“We attribute the death to haemorrhage, swelling and rupture of brain tissue, resulting from the bullet, which was fragmented and lodged in the cranial cavity,” read the nine-page report, signed by forensic advisers Dr Rayyan Al Ali and Dr Mohammad Al Shibli from the Palestinian Medico Legal Centre, part of the Justice Ministry.

The remains of Ms Eygi will be taken to Istanbul by commercial plane, stopping over in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said. Direct flights between Israel and Turkey were halted as diplomatic relations deteriorated after the October 7 attacks by Hamas and the subsequent war in Gaza, meaning a connecting flight is needed to fly Ms Eygi's body to Turkey. Azerbaijan maintains good relations with both countries.

The body is expected to be flown from Tel Aviv on Thursday night by Azerbaijan Airlines. It will be received in Baku by the Turkish embassy. A second flight will bring her to Istanbul early on Friday. The activist will be buried on Saturday in the Didim district on Turkey’s Aegean coast, the official said.

Pro-Palestinian campaigners published an invitation for the public to attend the funeral. "I invite everyone with a conscience to the funeral prayer to be held at the Aydin/Didim Central Mosque following the noon prayer on Saturday, September 14," read a post written on X by Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish charity IHH.

Ms Eygi lived in Seattle in the US and had recently graduated from the University of Washington, but has relatives in Turkey. She was shot dead while volunteering with a pro-Palestinian solidarity group in the village of Beita, near Nablus, last Friday.

In good health

The Palestinian autopsy report said Ms Eygi had appeared in good health before the gunshot. During the autopsy, which included blood tests and a CAT scan, doctors found shrapnel consisting of “two small lead-coloured metal fragments”, which they handed over to prosecutors. The autopsy report said Ms Eygi's wound was sustained “by fire from the Israeli army while she was participating in a peaceful protest at Jebel Sbih in the village of Beita”.

The Israeli military said earlier this week it was “highly likely” that Ms Eygi was killed by Israeli fire “unintentionally and indirectly”. She had been observing a protest against Israeli operations in the West Bank, including the construction of settlements deemed illegal under international law.

On Wednesday night, Ms Eygi’s parents said US President Joe Biden held “complicity in the Israeli military's agenda”. They demanded he speak to the family after they asked for an independent investigation into her death.

“Aysenur was an international observer who stood in witness,” they said. “Despite this, President Biden is still calling her killing an accident based only on the Israeli military's story. This is not only insensitive and false, it is complicity in the Israeli military's agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Biden called for accountability from Israel and requested assurances that similar incidents would not happen again.

“Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack,” the family said. “The appropriate action is for President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris to speak with the family directly, and order an independent, transparent investigation into the killing of Aysenur, a volunteer for peace.”

The US State Department previously said it was not carrying out an independent investigation.

Ankara has said it will pursue domestic and legal avenues for justice over the killing. On Thursday, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Turkey would request an arrest warrant be issued for those responsible for her death and report the incident to the UN Human Rights Council.

"We will follow the inclusion of the file and the report on the martyrdom of Aysenur in the investigation launched against Israeli attackers and genocides at the International Criminal Court," he said from Ankara.

In May the ICC's Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza, as well as for senior Hamas leaders including current chief Yahya Sinwar.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Ankara has also launched an investigation into those responsible for Ms Eygi's killing.