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Today's Paper | October 06, 2024

Published 06 Sep, 2024 10:33pm

American shot dead at West Bank protest where Israeli forces opened fire

A Turkish-American woman was shot dead while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita, where the army acknowledged opening fire, AFP reports.

Turkiye identified the woman as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, condemning her death, while the United States called it a “tragic” event, without immediately assigning responsibility. The incident occurred as Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.

Eygi, in her mid-20s, was in Beita as part of a weekly protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank — where some 490,000 people live — which are illegal under international law.

The Israeli army said it was investigating the incident. She arrived at the Rafidia hospital in Nablus “with a gunshot in the head” and was later pronounced dead, said hospital director Fouad Nafaa.

Turkiye said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers”, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemning the Israeli action as “barbaric”.

“We deplore this tragic loss,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, while promising to act “as necessary”.

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