White House says Turkish American activist's killing is an 'outrage'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Israel's killing of a Turkish American activist in the occupied West Bank last week is an "outrage," the White House said Thursday.

The fatal shooting of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, by the Israeli military last Friday "should have never happened," said spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, one day after US President Joe Biden demanded "full accountability" for her death.

"Her killing was indeed an outrage. And just to reiterate what I said moments ago, Israel must do more. They must do more to make sure that incidents like these never happen again," Jean-Pierre told reporters.

"We're going to continue to stay in close touch with Israeli and the Palestinian authorities regarding the circumstances that led to Aysenur's death. We're going to continue to have those conversation(s)," she added.

Eygi's family criticized the Biden administration on Wednesday for what they said has been its lack of outreach to them, and reiterated their demand for an independent investigation.

"Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack. The appropriate action is for President Biden and Vice President Harris to speak with the family directly, and order an independent, transparent investigation into the killing of Aysenur, a volunteer for peace," the family said.

The appeal came hours after Biden issued a lengthy statement about Ezgi's death, where he said he was "outraged and deeply saddened," but added that her death "was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation," citing results of a preliminary Israeli investigation.

Eygi's family noted the president's remarks on Feb. 2 after a deadly drone attack on an American military base in Jordan when he said: "If you harm an American, we will respond."

"In the midst of this terrible tragedy, our family has been crossing continents to gather and put our beloved Aysenur to rest. We will always remember Aysenur as the kindhearted, silly, and passionate soul whose face expressed all those qualities. We cannot speak of what happened to those expressions when her temple met a bullet fired by a trained Israeli soldier," said the family’s statement.

Jean-Pierre said US officials have reached out to the Ezgi family and "are working on additional calls." She declined to if the calls would be with the president.