US calls for changes in Israel after US activist dies in West Bank

Senior U.S. officials on Tuesday urged Israel to change its operations in the occupied West Bank after the military acknowledged that its fire there likely killed an American activist.

US President Joe Biden said he considered the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi an “accident”, but both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin described it as “unprovoked and unjustified”.

After an initially muted reaction to Eygi’s death on Friday, Blinken said the United States would raise the issue with its most important ally at the highest level pending an investigation.

The investigation and eyewitness accounts make it clear “that her killing was neither provoked nor justified,” Blinken told reporters during a visit to London.

“No one should be shot for taking part in a demonstration,” he said.

“In our view, the Israeli security forces must fundamentally change their approach in the West Bank, including changing their rules of engagement.”

“We have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. This is unacceptable. This must change.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Tuesday and called on him to “review the (Israeli military’s) rules of engagement in operations in the West Bank,” according to a Pentagon statement of the phone call.

But Biden told reporters that the killing appeared to be an accident.

“Apparently it was an accident – it bounced off the ground and she was accidentally hit,” Biden said, without elaborating.

Eygi’s partner Hamid Ali denied this account and said in a statement: “This was not an accident and her killers must be brought to justice.”

– “Totally inadequate” –

Eygi, who was 26 and also a Turkish citizen, was killed as she attended a site of weekly demonstrations against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The Israeli military said it had concluded that it was “highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by Israeli army fire.”

It was further stated that the fire was “not directed at them, but at the main instigator of the riot”.

It said Eygi was “killed during violent clashes in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and threw stones at security forces at the Beita junction.”

But Eygi’s family rejected the military’s portrayal of events and described the preliminary investigations as “completely inadequate”.

“She was seeking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by an Israeli soldier’s bullet,” her statement said.

“This can only be misinterpreted as a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military on an unarmed civilian.”

– Push for ceasefire –

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organization.

On Saturday, she dismissed as “false” the claim that ISM activists had thrown stones at Israeli forces and said the demonstration was peaceful.

The United Nations Office for Human Rights had previously stated that Israeli forces had killed Eygi with a “shot to the head.”

The mayor of Beita, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa and Eygi’s family also reported that she was killed by Israeli soldiers.

Turkey said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers” and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – a fierce critic of Israel – condemned Israel as “barbaric”.

The United States is Israel’s main supporter, supplying billions of dollars worth of weapons and diplomatic support.

Despite concerns about the deaths of US citizens, they maintained their support.

Blinken also led efforts to broker a ceasefire in the 11-month Gaza war.

While acknowledging that “very serious” differences of opinion remain, he said all sides would benefit from an agreement that would “calm the mood” in Gaza.

“It is clearly in Israel’s interest,” he said.

Drill-SCT-WD/LB