US lawmakers demand answers from Biden on Israeli killing of Turkish-American activist in West Bank

Nine US lawmakers have demanded answers from the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden over the killing of an American activist of Turkish descent by Israeli forces during a peaceful protest in the occupied West Bank last year.

US Senator Peter Welch, along with eight other Democratic lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, made the demand in a letter shared on X on Tuesday, asking the Biden administration to clarify what instigated Israeli forces to shoot  Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the head.

"Detailed statements of international, Israeli, and Palestinian eyewitnesses, as well as a Washington Post inquiry that included interviewing 13 eyewitnesses and reviewing more than 50 videos and photographs, describe a significantly different sequence of events" than the Israelis, they said in the letter, dated January 3.

Welch said, “Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a US-Turkish citizen, was killed by Israeli forces while attending a peaceful protest in the West Bank."

"There's no evidence to suggest that she was a threat."

American activist shot dead by Israeli forces in Occupied West Bank

Israeli occupation forces have shot dead an American activist of Turkish origin during a peaceful weekly anti-settlement march in the West Bank.

They went on to say that this case is “disturbingly” like the fatal shooting of veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by an Israeli sniper in the West Bank city of Jenin in 2022.

“Shireen and Aysenur each died from a single gunshot wound to the head," the lawmakers added.

They also listed questions about what instigated the shooting of Eygi, what possible threat she could have caused, and what the US Department of Justice has done about it, if at all.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot in the head in the town of Beita, near Nablus in the West Bank in September 2024.

Palestinians mourn American activist killed by Israeli snipers in Nablus

Palestinians mourn Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American activist of Turkish descent, who was killed by Israeli forces during a protest in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Wafa news agency, Eygi was in the West Bank volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which works to support and protect Palestinian farmers from Israeli military and settler attacks.

Eygi was the third ISM volunteer and one of more than a dozen foreign activists killed by Israeli forces in Palestine.

The Israeli military has alleged that Eygi was killed during an effort by the forces to quell a “riot.”

Available footage of the protest and numerous witness accounts, however, contradict the claim.

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