(CNN) – The family of an American shot dead while protesting in the occupied West Bank has blamed Israel for her death and called for an independent investigation, saying in a statement that an Israeli-led investigation would be inadequate.
Two eyewitnesses told CNN that Aysenur Eygi was shot in the head by Israeli forces responding to a protest near the city of Nablus. The 26-year-old had taken part in a weekly protest against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Beita, she added.
The Israeli military has admitted to shooting at protesters, and a US National Security Council spokesperson previously stated that the US had contacted Israeli officials to “request an investigation into the incident”.
But this Saturday the family said that would not be enough.
“We welcome the White House’s statement of condolences, but given the circumstances of Aysenur’s murder, an Israeli investigation is not appropriate,” the statement said.
“We call on President (Joe) Biden, Vice President (Kamala) Harris and Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of an American citizen and to ensure full accountability of those responsible.” .
The statement also said that Eygi “was killed by a bullet that the video shows came from an Israeli military marksman.”
Eygi held both American and Turkish citizenship. US authorities are investigating the deadly incident, and the Turkish government has stated that it holds Israel responsible for her death.
Eygi, who graduated from the University of Washington this spring, had been a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the same group of pro-Palestinian activists as Rachel Corrie, a US citizen murdered in 2003 while trying to stop An Israeli bulldozer demolishes Palestinian homes in Gaza.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops “responded with fire against a main instigator of the violent activity who threw stones at the forces and posed a threat to them.”
The IDF is “investigating reports that a foreign national died as a result of gunfire in the area,” the statement added.
The ISM said none of its members threw stones during the protest.
“Aysenur was more than 200 meters from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there was no confrontation at all in the minutes before he was shot,” he said in a statement.
“In any case, from that distance, neither she nor anyone else could have been perceived as a threat. She was murdered in cold blood.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the United States was working to “clarify the facts” of Eygi’s murder and offered condolences to his family, but did not suggest any immediate policy change regarding his death.
Even when Israeli forces have been found responsible for the murders of Americans in the West Bank – such as that of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh – the United States has not changed its policy and has continued to provide significant military support to those forces.
National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett previously stated that the United States was “deeply shocked” by Eygi’s murder. “We have contacted the Government of Israel to request more information and request an investigation into the incident,” he added.
The US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, confirmed that Eygi, born in Turkey, was the victim and said the embassy was “urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of her death.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned Eygi’s death, saying it held the Israeli government responsible and confirming that she was also a Turkish citizen. “We will follow up to bring to justice those who killed our citizens,” declared spokesman Oncu Keceli.
The family statement remembered Eygi as “an enormously passionate human rights activist” who had also been active on campus in student-led protests “defending human dignity and calling for an end to violence against the people of Palestine”.
“Like the olive tree under which she rested in her last breath, Aysenur was strong, beautiful and nourishing. “Her presence in our lives was taken away unnecessarily, illegally and violently by the Israeli army,” the statement said.
“Aysenur was a loving daughter, sister, companion and aunt. She was kind, brave, silly, caring and a ray of sunshine.”
Protests in Beita are common. The Palestinian town is next to a ramshackle outpost of Israeli settlers known as Evyatar. The settlement was not authorized by the Israeli state until it was legalized earlier this year. International law considers all Israeli settlements illegal.
