LONDON/JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday demanded an overhaul of Israeli military conduct in the occupied West Bank as they decried the fatal shooting of an American protester against settlement expansion, which Israel said was accidental.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead last Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers.
Turkish-American woman Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a graduate of the University of Washington, poses wearing her mortarboard and keffiyeh in a family photograph taken at the University of Washington's 2024 commencement ceremony, in Seattle, Washington, U.S,Ìę June 8, 2024. (REUTERS)
Israelâs military said on Tuesday that its initial inquiry found it was highly likely its troops had fired the shot that killed her but that her death was unintentional, and it voiced deep regret.
President Joe Biden later told reporters âit ricocheted off the groundâ and a US official said that was the conclusion of the Israeli investigation, the results of which were presented to the United States on Tuesday.
HIGHLIGHTS
âą Eygi's family demands independent US investigation
âą Blinken and Austin call Eygi's killing unprovoked and unjustified
âą Israeli military says gunfire aimed at another individual
Palestinian officials say that Eygi was struck in the head.
Eygiâs family called Israelâs preliminary inquiry âwholly inadequateâ and demanded an independent US investigation.
Hamid Ali, Eygiâs partner, in response to Bidenâs comments, said her death âwas no accident and her killers must be held accountable.â
âThe White House has not spoken with us. For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing,â Ali said.
Blinken and Austin, in their strongest comments to date criticizing the security forces of Washingtonâs closest Middle East ally, described Eygiâs killing as âunprovoked and unjustified.â They separately said said Washington would insist to the Israeli government that it makes changes to how its forces operated in the West Bank.
SPOTLIGHT
âNo one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views,â Blinken told reporters in London.
âIn our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.
âNow we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. Itâs not acceptable,â Blinken said.
An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment on Blinkenâs remarks.
Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said late on Tuesday, adding he expressed âgrave concern for the IDFâs responsibility for the unprovoked and unjustified deathâ of Eygi. He also urged Gallant âto reexamine the IDFâs rules of engagement while operating in the West Bank,â according to the Pentagon.
Opinion
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The Israeli military earlier said an investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division was under way and its findings would be submitted for higher-level review once completed.
âWeâre going to be watching that very, very closely,â White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, saying a criminal probe was an unusual step by Israelâs military.
âWeâre going to want to see where it goes now in terms of the criminal investigation and what they find, and if and how anyone is held accountable,â Kirby added.
PRELIMINARY INQUIRY
In a statement, the Israeli military said its commanders had conducted an initial investigation into the incident and found that the gunfire was not aimed at her but another individual it called âthe key instigator of the riot.â
âThe incident took place during a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks toward security forces at the Beita Junction,â it said.
Israel has sent a request to Palestinian authorities to carry out an autopsy, it said.
âWe are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional,â Eygiâs family said in a statement. A surge in violent settler assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank has stirred anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the hard-line settler movement. Tensions have been heightened amid Israelâs war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Palestinians have held weekly protests in Beita since 2020 over the expansion of nearby Evyatar, a settler outpost. Ultra-nationalist members of Israelâs ruling coalition have acted to legalize previously unauthorized outposts like Evyatar, a move Washington says threatens the stability of the West Bank and undercuts efforts toward a two-state solution to the conflict.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, an area Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state.
Israel has built a thickening array of settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the territory.
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