One day after calling the killing of a Turkish-American activist by Israeli forces in the West Bank an “accident,” US President Joe Biden has called for Israel to provide “full accountability,” demanding that the country “do more” to avoid such killings, Agence France-Presse reported.
“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” Biden said in a statement.
Some US officials had on Tuesday urged Israel to make changes to its operations in the occupied West Bank after its military acknowledged its fire likely killed Eygi.
Palestinians and international activists lift portraits of slain Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi as they arrive for her final farewell at the Rafidia hospital morgue in Nablus in the occupied West Bank on September 8, 2024. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Eygi, 26, was killed as she attended the site of weekly demonstrations against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” Biden said. “The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable.”
The US president said Israel had “acknowledged its responsibility for Aysenur’s death, and a preliminary investigation has indicated that it was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation.”
In another statement on Tuesday, Biden said Eygi’s killing appeared to have been an accident.
“Apparently it was an accident — it ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident,” Biden told reporters, hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the killing was “unprovoked and unjustified.”
The US response has been met with criticism, as many believe the administration’s failure to push for an independent investigation reflects a general reluctance to hold Israel accountable for violence against civilians, including American citizens.
The Israeli military said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot.”
Eygi’s family rejected the military’s version of events and called its preliminary inquiry “wholly inadequate.”
“She was taking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier,” they said in a statement.