International Solidarity Movement says Israel ‘deliberately’ targeted Turkish-American activist

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) – The Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said on Friday that Israel "deliberately" targeted a Turkish-American activist, demanding accountability for Israeli forces' escalating violence against international activists and Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.

According to an ISM statement, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was participating in a peaceful protest in Beita against illegal Israeli settlements when the Israeli army opened fire.

The movement said Eygi was standing with other human rights observers when she was fatally shot in the head by a sniper, making her the 18th protester killed in Beita since 2020.

Beita residents hold protests after weekly Muslim Friday prayers in congregation to oppose the illegal Israeli settlement of Avitar, which sits atop Mount Sbeih. The community demands that the settlement be removed because it violates their land rights.

Eygi was "deliberately targeted" by the Israeli sniper, the movement said, citing testimony from eyewitness Mariam Dag (a pseudonym), who is also an ISM volunteer. She condemned the killing as a continuation of decades of Israeli impunity, adding that the ISM would "continue to stand in solidarity and honor the martyrs until Palestine is free."

The statement also said that "In recent months, international activists have experienced a sharp increase in violence from Israeli forces and the occupation must be held accountable for this."

Eygi was "an activist with ISM," according to the statement, which also mentioned 17 other activists who had been killed by Israeli forces.

The 26-year-old Eygi, who was dual Turkish-American national, was shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank, according to eyewitnesses.

Eygi was born in the Turkish city of Antalya in 1998.