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An American activist was shot in the head by Israeli forces during a protest against West Bank settlements on Friday and died from her injuries, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American 26-year-old of Turkish descent, was at a weekly protest in the town of Beita, near the city of Nablus. She had only arrived on Tuesday as a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, according to Aljazeera.
The US State Department confirmed Eygi — who was from Seattle, according to her LinkedIn profile — was killed.
“We are aware of the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, today in the West Bank,” the spokesperson told the Independent .
“We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens.”
The Israel Defense Force confirmed they are “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed” after they responded to “violent activity” with “fire”.
“Today, during Israeli security forces activity adjacent to the area of Beita, the forces responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them,” the IDF statement said on social media platform X.
“The IDF is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review,” they added.
Fouad Nafaa, the head of the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, told Reuters Eygi was in a critical condition with a serious head injury.
“We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died,” he told the news agency.
Eygi was a recent psychology graduate of the University of Washington, according to her Linkedin profile.
The incident comes a few weeks after the village of Jit saw an attack from around 100 settlers. It drew worldwide condemnation.
