US calls for investigation into Israeli killing of Turkish-American activist

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) – The US called for an investigation into the Israeli killing of a Turkish-American activist in the West Bank, the White House said on Friday.

"We are deeply disturbed by the tragic death of an American citizen Aysenur Eygi today in the West Bank, and our hearts go out to, obviously, her families and loved ones.

"We have reached out to the government of Israel to ask for more information and request an investigation into the incident," spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Her remarks came after Aysenur Ezgi Eygi 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.

Karine Jean-Pierre quoted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who addressed the issue during his visit to the Dominican Republic, as saying, "He said, first things first, let's find out exactly what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that."

She added that the White House will share more information once it gets them.

President Joe Biden "truly" believes that there is "no higher priority" than the safety and protection of American citizens, wherever they are around the world, she said.

"I don't want to get ahead of anything here. We are calling for an investigation. We got to let the process play out, as the secretary said himself moments ago, and so I'm just going to leave it there. I just don't want to get into hypotheticals," Jean-Pierre said.

- 'I’ll have more information later,' Biden says on Eygi's killing

Biden, who met with the US hostage negotiation team in the White House Situation Room in earlier this week following the murder of American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas, said he will have "more details" later.

"I don’t have them yet, not yet," Biden said when asked about an update on the West Bank shooting.

"I need more information, that’s why I was late coming down, because I was on the phone, talking to my team. But I’ll have more information later," he told reporters.

Fouad Nafaa, the director of the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, told Anadolu that Eygi arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. She succumbed to her injuries despite medical teams’ efforts to revive her, according to Nafaa.

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers opened live fire on a group of Palestinians participating in a demonstration condemning the illegal settlements on Mount Sbeih in Beita, which lies south of the city of Nablus.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa confirmed that the victim was a volunteer with the Fazaa campaign, an initiative aimed at supporting and protecting Palestinian farmers from ongoing violations by illegal Israeli settlers and the military.

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 born in the Turkish city of Antalya in 1998.

* Micheal Hernandez contributed to this story