Aysenur Ezgi Eygi: US-Turkish activist dies after being ‘shot in head by Israeli forces’
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An American-Turkish activist has died of her injuries after reportedly being shot by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK said the woman was shot in the head in Beita, near Nablus, earlier today.
A&E medic Dr Ward Basalat said he treated her head wound but she died shortly after arriving at hospital.
A US State Department spokesman named her as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and said officials “were urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death”.
Palestinian media said the 26-year-old was shot at a demonstration against settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Ms Eygi is understood to have been part of the Palestinian-led International Solidarity Movement.
The Turkish foreign ministry called it a “murder” and said she had been “killed by the Israeli occupation forces in Nablus, West Bank”.
Israel’s military said it was looking into the reports, and that its forces had “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them”.
“The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review,” it added.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the US deplored the loss of one of its citizens and that details of her death must be established.
Protests in the West Bank happen regularly – and sometimes turn violent – over the expansion of Israeli settlements and a rise in attacks by settlers.
The US has imposed sanctions on a number of people over such incidents.
Hundreds of troops have been involved in an operation in Jenin, in the West Bank. Pic: AP
A man inspects damage in Jenin. Pic: AP
In August, dozens of Israeli settlers, some wearing masks, attacked a West Bank village and torched homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he viewed it with the “utmost severity” – but his military has been accused of standing by as attacks take place.
The death of the US woman came as Israeli forces appeared to have withdrawn from the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on Friday.
Hundreds of troops have been in Jenin for more than a week in an effort to eradicate Palestinian militants.
Palestinian health authorities say 39 people have been killed during Israel’s operations in the West Bank – with 21 of those in Jenin.
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Israel says most of those killed have been militants and that the offensive was necessary to prevent attacks on its civilians
However, the effect of the fighting has been severe, with water and electric cut, buildings destroyed and people forced to stay in their homes.
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Israelis carry coffins through Tel Aviv
The UN has accused Israel of using “lethal war-like tactics” in the camp, a cramped space home to tens of thousands of people.
Israeli armoured carriers were seen leaving Jenin via a checkpoint overnight and a statement from the government is expected later.
A ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas War still appears just out of reach despite huge pressure on Israel from the US and other allies, as well as domestically after the deaths of six more hostages last week.
