The family of a Turkish-American woman shot and killed Friday by Israeli soldiers during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the West Bank demanded an independent investigation Saturday.
They accuse the Israeli military of killing her "brutally."
The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” and called for an investigation.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, described as an activist, was shot while posing no threat to Israeli forces and during a calm period following earlier clashes, according to witnesses.
"Her presence in our lives was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military," Eygi's family said in a statement. "A U.S. citizen, Aysenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter."
The family called on U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to order an independent investigation and ensure accountability for the responsible parties.
The Israeli military said Saturday its forces "responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them" during the protest.
The director of Rafidia Hospital in Nablus told Reuters that Eygi arrived in critical condition with a head wound.
"We were trying to save her, but unfortunately, we couldn't revive her heart because of her severe injury, and then we announced she lost her life," Fouad Nafaa said.
Paramedic Faiz Abdel Jabar described to Reuters that during the protest in Beita, near Nablus, Israeli forces shot two bullets, one of which hit Eygi in the head.
Eygi, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was in Beita for a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, ISM said.
Turkey condemned her killing as "barbaric," and Washington has urged Israel to investigate the incident.
At a news conference in the Dominican Republic, Blinken expressed condolences and said Friday that the U.S. is focused on gathering facts about the shooting.
“First things first, let’s find out exactly what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that,” Blinken said.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the U.S. reached out to Israel for more information and requested an investigation.
The Israel Defense Forces said on X and Telegram that its forces responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks and posed a threat.
“The IDF is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review,” the statement said.
The incident follows an Israeli military withdrawal from Jenin and its refugee camps after a 10-day operation in the West Bank. Fighting in Jenin accounted for the deaths of 21 of 39 Palestinians reportedly killed during the operation.
In a video interview, Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub confirmed the withdrawal and described it as the most destructive incursion by the IDF to date.
While not confirming the withdrawal, the IDF summarized its “counterterrorism operations in Jenin,” saying it had eliminated 14 terrorists, apprehended over 30 suspects and dismantled explosives.
The IDF statement also said it dismantled numerous terrorist infrastructure sites, including an underground weapons storage facility and an explosives lab.
Since the conflict began following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli fire has killed nearly 700 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Palestinian health officials. The IDF reports that most of those killed were militants.
In Gaza, Israel’s counteroffensive has resulted in nearly 41,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the territory's health ministry, which says most of the dead are women and children. Israel claims most of the dead are combatants.
In separate incidents in northern and central Gaza, at least 8 Palestinians were killed and about two dozen others were wounded overnight into Saturday by Israeli strikes on a school housing refugees and a residential building in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, WAFA.
Gaza's Civil Defense authority, which operates under the Hamas-run government, said four of the dead were in refugee tents at Halima al-Sa'diyya School in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army said in a statement it had "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center ... embedded inside a compound that previously served as the 'Halima al-Sa'diyya' School in the northern Gaza Strip."
In another incident, five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in western Nuseirat in central Gaza.
“The terrorist Wassem Hazem, head of the Hamas terrorist organization in Jenin, was also eliminated,” the IDF said. “Hazem directed shooting and explosive attacks in Jenin and was responsible for advancing terror attacks in Judea and Samaria.”
Hamas is designated a terror group by the U.S., U.K., EU, and others.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
