A group of U.S. lawmakers led by Senator Peter Welch advanced the case of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist killed by Israeli troops, demanding answers from the State Department on her killing.
Eygi, 26, was killed by Israeli forces during a protest over illegal Israeli settlements near Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Sept. 6. Although the U.S. called for a “swift, thorough and transparent investigation” four months ago, no accountability has been achieved. Israel’s preliminary findings claimed she was “highly likely” hit “indirectly and unintentionally” during an operation targeting a “main instigator of violent activity.”
But video evidence and witness accounts dispute this, alleging she was deliberately targeted by an Israeli sniper.
In their letter, the lawmakers posed seven questions to the State Department, including whether there is any evidence that Eygi posed a threat to the soldier, whether the soldier intended to target her and which Israeli army unit the soldier was assigned to. “Who was the ‘key instigator,’ and where was he (or she) located when the soldier fired the shots?” they asked. The lawmakers also asked whether the State Department requested the Department of Justice to investigate Eygi’s case.
“The soldier was reportedly standing behind a concrete wall on a rooftop of a concrete house at an elevated location approximately 215-230 meters from where Ayşenur was standing next to a tree, and he fired two shots in close succession using a rifle. A local 17-year-old boy, reportedly standing approximately 15-20 meters from her on the other side of the tree, suffered a minor injury from a fragment of the first bullet that had reportedly ricocheted off a metal object. The second bullet hit Ayşenur on the left side of her head. We are not aware of any evidence that Ayşenur, the teenage boy, or anyone else in her proximity posed any threat to the soldier who shot her or to anyone else,” the lawmakers said in the letter.
“We understand the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is investigating this shooting, but a preliminary report released on Sept. 10, 2024, which was reportedly based entirely on information provided by IDF soldiers, asserted that Ayşenur was hit “indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire, which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot. Detailed statements of international, Israeli and Palestinian eyewitnesses and a Washington Post inquiry that included interviewing 13 eyewitnesses and reviewing more than 50 videos and photographs describe a significantly different sequence of events. This case is disturbingly like the fatal shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli soldier located nearly 200 meters away. Shireen and Ayşenur each died from a single gunshot wound to the head,” lawmakers said.