Over 100 Lawmakers Demand Independent Probe Into Israel Killing Ayşenur Eygi

Israeli forces fatally shot the Turkish American activist this month in the West Bank, which the military claims was an accident despite contradicting evidence.

More than 100 members of Congress have signed on to a letter demanding that the United States conduct an independent investigation into the Israeli forces’ killing of Turkish American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi earlier this month in the occupied West Bank, after the military alleged that its soldiers likely shot the young pro-Palestinian woman on accident.

The Tuesday letter was drafted by Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat representing Eygi’s home state of Washington. A Seattle resident and recent University of Washington graduate, the 26-year-old activist was shot dead by Israeli forces on Sept. 6 while she was volunteering as an international observer for Palestinians engaging in a weekly protest against an illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territory’s village of Beita.

After news of Eygi’s killing spread throughout the international community and the U.S., the Israeli Defense Forces said it would conduct a preliminary investigation into the shooting — a rare move by the military that even more rarely results in accountability. Upon conclusion of said preliminary investigation, the IDF stated that it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her” during a “violent riot.”

The letter said that lawmakers are “deeply disturbed” by the IDF’s probe, which contradicts credible eyewitness accounts from fellow volunteers and Palestinians on the ground, as well as a recent Washington Post investigation that corroborates the accounts with additional interviews and photo and video evidence. Eygi’s family also called the Israeli probe “wholly inadequate.”

The evidence suggests that an Israeli sniper intentionally shot an unarmed Eygi in the head from an elevated position while she was in a quiet olive grove more than 200 yards away from Israeli forces, about 30 minutes after clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli soldiers subsided and most protesters had retreated.