JERUSALEM: The family of a Turkish-American woman shot dead while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank demanded an independent investigation into her death on Saturday, accusing the Israeli military of killing her “violently”.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was “shot in the head” while participating in a demonstration in Beita in the West Bank on Friday, the United Nations rights office said. “Her presence in our lives was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military,” Eygi’s family said in a statement.

“A US citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter.

“We call on President (Joe) Biden, Vice President (Kamala) Harris, and Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.”

Eygi was a member of the International Solida­rity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation, and was in Beita on Friday for a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, according to ISM.

The group on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as “false” and said the demonstration was peaceful. “Aysenur was more than 200 metres away from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot,” ISM said in a statement.

Three killed in Lebanon

Lebanon’s health ministry said three emergency personnel were killed and two wounded in an Israeli attack on Saturday on a civil defence team that had been fighting fires in the country’s south.

“Israeli enemy targeting of a Lebanese civil defence team that was putting out fires sparked by the recent Israeli strikes in the village of Froun led to the martyrdom of three emergency responders,” the health ministry said in a statement.

Two others were wounded, one of them critically, the statement said, adding that the toll was provisional.

The ministry said two emergency personnel from the Hezbollah-affi­liated Islamic Health Committee were wounded when “the Israeli enemy deliberately targeted” near a fire they were heading to extinguish in south Lebanon’s Qabrikha, causing their vehicle to swerve.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024