Note: This story contains disturbing details of gore and violence.
This image taken from an Associated Press video shows Aysenur Eygi's body being transported through the Rafidia Surgical Hospital, where she was taken after after witnesses say she was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers, Sept. 6, 2024, in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Aref Tufaha / AP
Israeli soldiers killed an American woman demonstrating against settlements in the West Bank on Friday, according to two witnesses who said what began as a peaceful demonstration devolved into a clash between stone-throwing protesters and troops firing live ammunition.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was a United States and Turkish citizen who lived in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington in June 2024. She was participating in a weekly demonstration protesting the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Witnesses said the shooting happened shortly after a communal prayer on a hillside outside the town of Beita, near the settlement of Evyatar. Israeli soldiers reportedly surrounded the prayer and tensions rose. Some Palestinians threw stones, and soldiers fired tear gas and rifles.
The U.S. government confirmed Eygi’s death but did not say whether she had been shot by Israeli troops. The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of a U.S. citizen and called on Israel to investigate what happened.
The Israeli military said it was looking into reports that troops had killed a foreign national while firing at an “instigator of violent activity” in the area of the protest.
In a posting on X, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned “this murder carried out by” the Israeli government. Turkey will work “to ensure that those who killed our citizen is brought to justice,” ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said.
According to University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, Aysenur Eygi was a peer mentor in psychology at the university.
“This morning brought the awful news that recent UW graduate Aysenur Eygi was reportedly killed by Israeli troops in the West Bank. My heart goes out to Aysenur’s family, friends and loved ones. Aysenur was a peer mentor in psychology who helped welcome new students to the department and provided a positive influence in their lives. This is the second time over the past year that violence in the region has taken the life of a member of our UW community and I again join with our government and so many who are working and calling for a ceasefire and resolution to the crisis.”
The other fatality in the UW community was 32-year-old Hayim Katsman, who was killed in Israel during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Eygi killed while participating in demonstration
On Thursday, Israeli troops shot and killed a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, Bana Laboom, in her village outside the West Bank town of Nabul, Palestinian health officials said. There was no immediate military comment on the report.
Eygi, a volunteer with the activist group International Solidarity Movement, was attending a weekly demonstration against settlement expansion that has been held for years and has often brought Israeli crackdowns and protester stone-throwing.
Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli participating in Friday’s protest, said the shooting occurred shortly after dozens of Palestinians and international activists held a communal prayer on a hillside outside the northern West Bank town of Beita overlooking the Israeli settlement of Evyatar.
Soldiers surrounded the prayer, and clashes soon broke out, with Palestinians throwing stones and troops firing tear gas and live ammunition, Pollak said.
The protesters and activists retreated and clashes subdued, he said. He then watched as two soldiers on the roof of a nearby home trained a gun in the group’s direction and fired.
He said he saw Eygi “lying on the ground, next to an olive tree, bleeding to death.”
Mariam Dag, another ISM activist at the protest, also said she saw an Israeli soldier on a rooftop, then heard the firing of two live bullets. One hit a Palestinian protester in the leg; the other hit Eygi. Dag said she saw blood coming from the fallen woman’s head.
“The shots were coming from the direction of the army,” she said.
Eygi had just arrived in the West Bank on Tuesday, Dag said. She had been “very excited this morning to start. She was really keen on coming to the demonstration.”
“This has been happening to Palestinians for decades. This happened because of the impunity which the Israelis act with,” while Western governments do little, she said.
Two doctors confirmed Eygi was shot in the head — Dr. Ward Basalat, who administered first aid at the scene, and Dr. Fouad Naffa, director of Rafidia Hospital in Nablus where she was taken.
ISM said 17 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces at the weekly Beita protests since March 2020. A month ago, an American, Amado Sison, was shot in the leg by Israeli forces, he said, as he tried to flee tear gas and live fire.
At the University of Washington, where Eygi recently graduated with a degree in psychology, Aria Fani, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures, recalled Eygi’s activism earlier this year at a pro-Palestinian encampment, and remembered her as someone with a gift for listening to others.
Fani said he had tried to talk Eygi out of going to the West Bank but that she told him “she needed to bear witness for the sake of her own humanity.”
Biden administration urged to hold Israel accountable for Eygi’s death
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was “intensely focused” on determining what happened and that “we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that.”
Washington’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Biden administration Friday to hold Israel accountable for Eygi’s death at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces.
“For the past 11 months, we have seen how the IDF has continuously shown an utter disdain for innocent life, whether in Gaza or in the West Bank,” CAIR-WA Executive Director Imraan Siddiqi said in a statement. “We call on the Biden Administration to hold accountable the killers of Aysenur Eygi and bring them to justice.”
“In our lifetimes, we have seen the IDF kill Americans such as Rachel Corrie, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Furkan Dogan, while our government has barely acknowledged their murders. We must continue to stand for justice for Aysenur and all those who have been killed before her.”
This image taken from an Associated Press video shows Aysenur Eygi's body being transported through the Rafidia Surgical Hospital, where she was taken after after witnesses say she was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers, Sept. 6, 2024, in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Aref Tufaha / AP
Reactions from Washington state politicians
Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, who represents Washington’s 7th Congressional District, covering Seattle, said: “My heart goes out to Aysenur’s family, friends, and loved ones. This is a terrible tragedy, and I extend my condolences to all those in mourning today. My office is actively working to gather more information on the events that led to her death.
“I am very troubled by the reports that she was killed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. The Netanyahu government has done nothing to stop settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, often encouraged by right-wing ministers of the Netanyahu government. The killing of an American citizen is a terrible proof point in this senseless war of rising tensions in the region.”
Washington Senator Patty Murray issued the following statement.
“I am heartbroken and angry about the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American citizen, in the West Bank today, who was reportedly peacefully protesting against illegal settlement activity. The government of Israel must deliver answers immediately and hold the perpetrators of this killing accountable. I will be in close touch with the Biden administration to press the Israeli government for full transparency and accountability. My heart is with Aysenur’s family and loved ones during this difficult time.
“Moreover, Israel must take swift action to put an end to the illegal settler-driven violence that has escalated to a dangerous level in the West Bank. Extremist settler violence in the West Bank, and the associated, ongoing expansion of illegal settlements and outposts, must come to an end — it is important for Israel’s own security and the stability of the entire region.”
Senator Maria Cantwell said she is communicating with federal officials to get more information about Eygi’s death.
“The death of Aysenur Eygi is a tragedy. My office has been in contact with the State Department and our U.S. Embassy in Israel regarding her death. I will do whatever I can to help her family at this difficult time. Our hearts and prayers are with her family and her many friends in the greater Seattle area.”
ISM activists killed before Eygi
At least three activists from the International Solidarity Movement have been killed since 2000.
Two of them were killed in Gaza in 2003. American Rachel Corrie was crushed to death as she tried to block an Israeli military bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home. About a month later, British citizen Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. ISM activists often place themselves between Israeli forces and Palestinians to try to stop the Israeli military from carrying out operations.
The Israeli military ruled Corrie’s death an accident, a conclusion widely rejected by rights groups. The soldier who killed Hurndall was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison and was released after serving just over half of it.
Shireen Abu Akleh — a Palestinian-American journalist with the Al Jazeera news network – was shot to death covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank in 2022. The United States concluded an Israeli soldier likely killed her by mistake, and Israel acknowledged that was a “high probability” but not certain and ruled out a criminal investigation. Al Jazeera accuses troops of intentionally killing her.
A handful of Americans have been killed in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began, apparently by Israeli fire. Two Palestinian-American teens, Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, were shot to death in the span of a month while driving close to their villages. The findings of U.S. and Israeli investigations into their deaths have not been released.
In a statement Thursday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the Biden administration has not done enough “to pursue justice and accountability” for Khdour and Abdel Jabbar. He said it must “use American influence to demand the prosecution of those responsible for harm against American citizens.”
Associated Press’ Julia Frankel and Aref Tufana, and KUOW’s Dyer Oxley contributed to this story.