A Turkish-American woman was shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during a protest on Friday, media reports said.
The deceased person was identified as Aysenur Eygi.
She was reportedly participating in a protest against the expansion of the Jewish settlement in Beita.
Eygi was shot in the head by Israeli forces responding to the gathering, according to two eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN.
The Israeli Defense Forces admitted to firing at the demonstrators.
“Today, during Israeli security forces activity adjacent to the area of Beita, the forces responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them,” the IDF posted on X.
“The IDF is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area,” the forces said.
The IDF said it is reviewing the details of the incident and the circumstances in which the foreign national was hit.
Aysenur Eygi was volunteering in the region for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
Fellow ISM volunteer Mariam Dag (a pseudonym) was quoted as saying by the group’s website: ” We were peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians against the colonisation of their land, and the illegal settlement of Evyatar.”
“The situation escalated when the Israeli army began to fire tear gas and live ammunition, forcing us to retreat. We were standing on the road, about 200 meters from the soldiers, with a sniper clearly visible on the roof. Our fellow volunteer was standing a bit further back, near an olive tree with some other activists. Despite this, the army intentionally shot her in the head,” Dag said.
” This is just another example of the decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and army, bolstered by the support of the US and European governments, who are complicit in enabling genocide in Gaza. Palestinians have suffered far too long under the weight of colonization. We will continue to stand in solidarity and honor the martyrs until Palestine is free,” Dag said.
A friend of the slain human rights activist and fellow volunteer with the ISM who does not wish their name released said: “I don’t know how to say this. There’s no easy way. I wish I could [say] something eloquent, but I can’t through my sobbing tears…. my friend, comrade and travel partner to Palestine, was just shot in the head and murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces. May she rest in power. She is now one of many martyrs in this struggle.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the incident and posted on X: “I condemn Israel’s barbaric intervention against a civilian protest against the occupation in the West Bank, and pray to God to have mercy on our citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who lost her life in the attack.”
Clashes in the West Bank have been quite frequent since Israel began the war in Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7.
