NABLUS.- An American activist with Turkish nationality died this Friday after receiving a gunshot wound during a demonstration against settlement West Bank occupied, in a town where the Israeli army admits that it opened fire. Two doctors said he got it shot in the head.
The woman killed in Protests in the West Bank identified as Aysenur Ezgi Eygia 26-year-old activist with dual American and Turkish citizenship. Eygi had recently arrived in the area as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement and was participating in a demonstration against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the town of Beita, near Nablus.
According to Palestinian and Turkish authorities, She was shot in the head by Israeli forces and died shortly after of her injuries in a hospital in Nablus.
The spokesperson for the US State Department, Matthew Millerconfirmed the death of the 26-year-old woman, but did not say whether she was shot by Israeli soldiers. He said the United States was gathering more information about the circumstances of his death and that I would “have more to say” later.
“We are aware of the tragic death of US citizen Aysenur Eygi today in the West Bank,” he said in a statement emailed to reporters. gathering more information about the circumstances of his death, and we will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety of American citizens” he said.
For its part, the Israeli Army says so “checking the reports” about a foreign citizen who was killed in a demonstration in Beita, near Nablus, “as a result of bullets fired in the area.”
Palestinian officials and doctors have reported that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a US citizen, He was fatally shot in the head by live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers.
“The armies responded with fire towards the main instigator of violent activity who was throwing stones at the forces and pose a threat to them,” the Israeli army statement says.
“The details of what happened and the circumstances of how she was hit are being reviewed,” he said.
The woman who was burned to death they attended a weekly demonstration against settlement expansion, protests that have turned violent in the past: A month ago, American citizen Amado Sison was shot in the leg by Israeli forces, he said, while he was trying to escape tear gas and live fire.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli who also took part in the protest, said that The shooting happened shortly after dozens of Palestinians and international activists held a community prayer on a hillside outside the city of Beita on the northwest bank, overlooking the Israeli settlement of Evyatar.
Soldiers surrounded the prayer and clashes soon broke out, with Palestinians throwing stones and soldiers firing tear gas and live ammunition, Pollak said.
Protesters and activists, including Pollak and the woman, retreated from the hill and the fighting calmed down, he said. Then he saw as two soldiers stationed on the roof of a nearby house pointed a gun at the group and shot them. He saw flames shooting out of the muzzle of the gun as the shots went off. He said the woman was about 10 or 15 meters behind him when the shots were fired.
“I found her lying on the ground under an olive tree, bleeding to death,” said.
Two doctors said he got it burning in the head: Ward Basalat, who provided first aid at the scene, and Fouad Naffa, director of the Rafidia hospital in the nearby city of Nablus, where she was transferred.
“We are trying to save the American citizen, we try to revive the heart in several stages“But unfortunately we couldn’t get him to work again,” Naffa told the AP, adding that he had severe bone fractures and brain tissue damage.
Palestinian officials said that the killing shows how Israel has stopped Palestinian protests in the area since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli forces rarely use live ammunition to suppress protests within Israel. But in the West Bank, Palestinian demonstrations are often met with live fire.
Rising violence in the West Bank has directed the Israeli army to treat the region as a “second battle front”after the recent operations in Gaza. In the last week, at least 30 Palestinians have died in Israel’s raids on Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and Hebron, with more intense military tactics including airstrikes and destruction of infrastructure.
Hussein Al-Sheikhsecretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, wrote in X that the killing of the activist from North America marked “another crime added to the series of crimes committed by the occupying forces every day. “
The international community largely believes that the settlements are illegal under international law.
At first the settlement of Evyatar was an outside place that was not recognized by Israeli law, but It was legalized by the Israeli cabinet last monthin a move that the Finance Minister further said, Bezalel Smotrichthat it was in response to the recognition of Palestinian statehood by several countries.
Israeli fire has killed more than 690 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. During that time, attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis on the territory have also increased.
AP and Reuters agencies
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