Loved Ones Of American Activist Killed By Israel Condemn Military Probe: 'Wholly Inadequate'

The loved ones of an American activist who was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank last week have condemned the militarys claim on Tuesday that a sniper unintentionally shot the 26-year-old woman, saying they are deeply offended at such a suggestion and still want an independent probe of the incident.

The statements both from Ayenur Ezgi Eygis volunteer group and her family in the U.S. came in response to the Israeli militarys preliminary investigation into itself, the results of which were released Tuesday. Israel launched the probe after eyewitness testimony, the United Nations and Turkish and Palestinian officials all said that an Israeli soldier shot the woman in the head on Friday following a weekly protest against illegal Israeli settlement expansions in Beita, a Palestinian village near the West Bank city of Nablus.

The Israeli military said that its preliminary inquiry found it is highly likely that Eygi was shot indirectly and unintentionally by Israeli fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot. The military also said it expresses its deepest regret for killing Eygi and sent a request to carry out an autopsy, adding it has launched a criminal investigation.

Eygis family said that the result of Israels initial probe is wholly inadequate and that the activists killing while seeking shelter from Israeli violence cannot be misconstrued as anything except a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian.

We are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional, the family said in their statement. The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling.

Eygi was from Seattle, where as a graduate student she helped organize the campus protest movement at the University of Washington during the nationwide wave of demonstrations against Israels offensive in Gaza. Photos circulating after she was killed show her in a graduation gown while wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh.

She was participating in the West Bank demonstration as a volunteer with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a human rights group that on Tuesday joined Eygis family in rejecting the Israeli militarys claim that the killing was unintentional.

The militarys account of the events is blindly based on the accomplices version, which completely contradicts the testimonies of multiple eyewitnesses, whom the military did not even contact, ISM said in a statement. All eyewitnesses said immediately following the killing that the scene where Ayenur was killed was completely quiet and that there could have been no excuse to open fire, let alone directly hitting a woman peacefully standing in an olive grove.

The Palestinian Authority held a funeral Friday in Beita for Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship. Turkish officials said they are working to repatriate her body so that she can be buried on the Aegean coast, according to her familys wishes.

As we mourn the death of our beloved Ayenur, we reiterate our demand for the U.S. government leaders to order an independent investigation into the Israeli militarys deliberate targeting and killing of a U.S. Citizen, the family said in their statement. Israeli officials must be transparent and release the evidence they compiled, to be reviewed by the family and independent authorities.

During a news conference Tuesday in London, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israeli forces killing of Eygi was unprovoked and unjustified and that the military should make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.

Despite this being the most forceful statement by Blinken against the Israeli military, he notably did not impose nor threaten to impose any sanctions. He also did not call for an independent investigation into Eygis killing, nor did he mention similar cases of excessive force by Israel Defense Forces soldiers against Palestinians in Gaza.

Apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and just got hit by accident. Im working that out now, President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday when asked about Eygi.

The White House has not spoken with us, Eygis partner, Hamid Ali, said in response to the presidents comment. For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing: to call us, offer his condolences and let us know that he is ordering an independent investigation of the killing of Ayenur.

Eygi is the 18th activist killed by Israeli forces in Beita since 2020, the other 17 have been Palestinians. She is also the second American activist with ISM to be killed by Israel while protesting for Palestinian rights. 

In 2003, activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli armored bulldozer while defending a Palestinian home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Blinken at the time was one of several U.S. officials who tried to help Corries parents, Cindy and Craig, in the days following her death.

Most of the families that Ive talked to after theyve had somebody killed like this, what they want to see is that that sort of tragedy does not happen to another family, Craig Corrie told AJ+ after Eygis death. So Im not sure that we were ever struggling for anything for Rachel. We were struggling for all the people that came after. And weve failed so far.