The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) has rejected the Israeli army’s claim that the killing of Turkish-American human rights activist Aysenur Eygi was “unintentional.” Eygi, a member of the ISM, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while witnessing a demonstration against the illegal Israeli settlement of Evyatar in the occupied West Bank town of Beita on September 6, 2024.
After a brief internal investigation, the Israeli army stated that it was “highly likely” Eygi was hit “indirectly and unintentionally” by IDF fire that was not aimed at her. However, the ISM has dismissed this assertion as “specious” and continues to demand an independent investigation into Eygi’s killing.
“We are joined in this demand by people worldwide who have watched Israel operate with impunity for decades,” said the ISM. “The world sees through this transparent attempt to conceal the Israeli army’s responsibility for Aysenur’s killing. She is just one of the tens of thousands killed by Israel over decades of ethnic cleansing, displacement and genocide.”
The ISM insists that the Israeli army’s account of events contradicts the testimonies of multiple eyewitnesses, who stated that the scene where Eygi was killed was completely quiet and that there could have been no justification for opening fire, let alone directly hitting a woman standing peacefully in an olive grove.
According to activists present during the incident, the Israeli army’s statement includes “an array of evident falsehoods.” For example, the claim that Eygi was not the target of the shot but was hit “indirectly and unintentionally” when a soldier targeted a key instigator of the protest does not align with the physical reality on the ground.
The nearest Israeli forces to where Eygi was shot were positioned on a rooftop approximately 220 meters away from her, in an elevated position. Given the distance and the soldiers’ elevation, stones could not have been thrown towards them from Eygi’s location.
Moreover, there were two separate shots fired, with a few seconds between them. The first shot hit a metal object, and shrapnel struck a Palestinian teenager in the pelvis. However, Eygi was hit by a second shot, several seconds after the teenager was already down, and there was no one else around who could have been the target of the shot.
The ISM also notes that the army statement “very manipulatively” conflates two separate events in time and place. The first event involved short confrontations soon after the midday prayer at the top of the hill, where a few burning tires were placed on the road.
The second event was the shooting of Eygi, which took place more than half an hour later, when there were no confrontations at all, and approximately 274 meters from where the burning tires were, and about 220 meters from the rooftop where the soldier who shot her was positioned.
Furthermore, the ISM states that Eygi was not shot at the Beita Junction, as claimed by the Israeli army, but at a location almost two kilometers away.
The ISM insists that an independent investigation of the Israeli army’s killing of Aysenur Eygi is essential for justice to be served. The movement points out that the Israeli army has a long history of using sham investigations to cover up human rights abuses and crimes against humanity in Palestine, as documented by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and other organizations.
Even U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that Eygi’s killing in the West Bank was “unjustified and without provocation on her part,” and that it is not permissible to shoot someone for participating in a demonstration.
