U.S. activist killed by IDF soldier during peaceful protest in Palestine

Human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier in Palestine while she was participating in a peaceful protest in the West Bank Friday morning. 

The 26-year-old woman was a volunteer for International Solidarity Movement (ISM) Palestine and is the 18th person to be killed since 2020 during these weekly protests against illegal Israeli settlements. 

According to a media member who witnessed the event, Israeli soldiers positioned themselves 200 meters away from the protesters and then began to throw tear bombs and sound bombs at the protesters, followed by live rounds—one of which entered Eygi’s head. An emergency vehicle took her to the Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus where she was pronounced dead.

The White House requested that Israel investigate the shooting, according to NBC News.

"We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Egzi 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.”

Majdy Hamayel, a journalist from Beita, the village in the West Bank where the shooting occurred, spoke with Palestine in America via Zoom. Hamayel said attacks at these protests from Israeli settlers and military officers are not uncommon.

According to Hamayel, settlers have attempted to occupy Jabal Sabih, part of Beita, for a number of years, and these weekly and peaceful actions are meant to protect the village from Israeli settlers and soldiers who regularly attack Beita’s most vulnerable in an attempt to drive out villagers. 

“Under Netanyahu, theft of land has increased as well as settler harassment. There have been vicious attacks against women and children and elderly men in their homes,” Hamayel said. “Only 10 minutes ago, they killed a young girl, [Bana Laboum] in the village Qaryut, a village of Beita. The settlers entered the village and would randomly fire at women, children, and elders in their homes and it resulted in the death of the 12-year-old girl in her home.” 

The people of Beita leave their homes every week after Friday prayers to Jabal Sabih, about ten kilometers from an illegal settlement. Foreign activists are always with the Palestinians to support their right to live in freedom on their land, Hamayel added. This was only Eygi’s first or second time attending an action in Beita, he said.

“For the activist that died, all of Beita and Palestine gives condolences to her family. The people of Beita has opened a house of mourning for the activist so they can give condolences to her family and mourn her,” Hamayel said. “All of Beita is crying over the martyr who was killed in Beita. In the mosques, they’ve started to call her a daughter of Beita. The name of the martyr is known to have protected the women and children of Beita as well as the land of Beita.”

“The daughter of Beita” was Turkish-American and was a University of Washington alumnus who meant a great deal to her community.

“This morning brought the awful news that recent UW graduate Aysenur Eygi was reportedly killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank,” Ana Marie Cauce, University of Washington President told Palestine in America in a statement. “My heart goes out to Aysenur’s family, friends and loved ones. Ayensur was a peer mentor in psychology who helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives. This is the second time over the past year that violence in the region has taken the life of a member of our UW community and I again join with our government and so many who are working and calling for a ceasefire and resolution to the crisis.”

Hamayel and many others hold the U.S. partially responsible for Eygi’s death.

“Unfortunately the American activist was killed by an American bullet, with American support. America is who supports the colonization of the West Bank, America arms the settlers in the West Bank,” Hamayel said. “The American who was martyred, unfortunately, was killed by the weapons of her country.”