Pressure builds for Israeli investigation after US citizen killed in West Bank

Democrats in Congress joined the United Nations to condemn the killing of a U.S. citizen in the West Bank on Friday and called for Israeli accountability as tensions continue to mount over settlement expansions that have increased since Oct. 7.

According to eyewitness accounts, 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a protest against West Bank settlement expansion on Friday. The witnesses said violence had flared during a weekly anti-settlement demonstration as some protesters threw rocks at Israeli forces and were met with fire. But one attendee told the Associated Press that the situation had already de-escalated when Eygi was shot and that she did not pose a threat to Israeli forces.

In a statement released Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces wrote that they had “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity” in the area and that a “foreign national” had been killed as a result. They added that the “details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”

Eygi, a Seattle resident who also holds Turkish citizenship, had recently graduated from the University of Washington and was volunteering with the activist group International Solidarity Movement. Some who mourned Eygi’s death on social media drew parallels to another U.S. citizen, Rachel Corrie, who was also associated with the International Solidarity Movement and who was killed by Israeli forces in 2003 while protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli court ruled in 2012 that the military was not at fault in Corrie’s death.

In a statement, Eygi’s family said their daughter had been “peacefully standing for justice” and called on the Biden administration to order an “independent investigation” into her death and “ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.”

National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement Friday that the U.S. is “deeply disturbed” by Eygi’s death and that the White House had requested an investigation from the Israeli government.

United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Friday that the organization also wants to see “a full investigation of the circumstances and that people should be held accountable,” emphasizing that “civilians must be protected at all times.”

High-ranking Democrats soon joined calls for a probe into Eygi’s killing.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, extended his condolences to Eygi’s family in a statement Saturday, calling for the Israeli government to “deliver answers quickly and thoroughly.” Smith also condemned the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank as “illegal, destabilizing,” and in violation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank.

“The perpetrators must be held accountable with a full, thorough, and transparent investigation,” Smith wrote, stopping short of calling for an independent probe into Eygi’s death.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) echoed calls to increase pressure on the Israeli government, writing that the Biden administration “must do more” to hold Israel accountable for the deaths of three American citizens in the West Bank since Oct. 7. Two 17-year-old boys were shot and killed in separate instances earlier this year.

“To date, the U.S. has not received satisfactory responses from the Netanyahu Government about the two other Americans killed in the West Bank since October 7th, and the Biden Administration has not been doing enough to pursue justice and accountability on their behalf,” the statement read.

The Maryland senator also decried the escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and the expansion of illegal settlements, saying that the United States “cannot turn a blind eye to these actions.”

Since Oct. 7, more than 690 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.