Turkish-American Woman Killed In West Bank During Palestinian Protest, IDF

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Medics rush a US citizen who reportedly received a gunshot wound in the head to the emergency ward of a hospital in Nablus in the occupied West Bank on September 6, 2024. A Palestinian hospital official said on September 6 that a US citizen died from a “gunshot in the head” in the occupied West Bank, and Israel’s military said it was investigating the incident. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff James Meyers
10:18 AM – Friday, September 6, 2024

On Friday, the Biden Administration requested Israeli officials to investigate the rumored death of an American woman in the West Bank.

“We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, today in the West Bank and our hearts go out to her family and loved ones,” White House national security council spokesman 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.”

Reports say that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was a Turkish woman with American citizenship who prided herself on being a supporter of Palestinians, traveling to the region to take part in activist-related work.

The Associated Press reported that the woman was shot and killed by Israeli troops, citing reports by two doctors. Eygi had been continuously throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers while yelling obscenities. After an initial warning from Israeli officials, the woman still proceeded, according to witnesses.

“The Israeli military said it was looking into reports that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an ‘instigator of violent activity’ in the area of the protest,” according to AP News.

Witnesses, protesters, and Gaza-based media outlets told reporters that she was shot by Israeli troops while attending an unruly pro-Palestine protest against settlement expansion in the Nablus area of the northern West Bank, near the town of Beita.

“The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute the Israeli officials, soldiers and illegal settlers responsible for committing violent crimes against Palestinian-Americans, including… Turkish-American peace activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported.

However, the 26-year-old woman was reportedly not Palestinian.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added in a statement that it had been in the area next to Beita, and “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.”

“The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review,” it said.

In Jenin, the IDF said at least 14 people they identified as terrorists had been killed, which includes Wassem Hazem, the head of Hamas’ presence in Jenin, who they say was in charge of explosive attacks in the area.

Meanwhile, according to Palestinian health officials, at least 39 people had been killed in the West Bank since Israel launched an operation to take out “terrorist cells” in the territory last Wednesday. Hamas leaders control the region and run the government in Gaza, meaning that health officials typically answer to these men.

Israeli officials also reported that at least 23 Israelis, including members of the IDF, have been killed in attacks by Palestinian civilians and Hamas in the West Bank during the same period.

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