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US Demands Transparent Probe into American Citizen's Killing in West Bank Protest
The US government has demanded a transparent investigation into the killing of an American citizen, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, during a protest in the West Bank, calling for Israel to conduct a thorough and public probe into the incident
Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi (LinkedIn)
The US government has called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of an American citizen during a protest in the West Bank, with the State Department expecting Israel to conduct a formal probe and release its findings publicly. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a recent graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle, was shot and killed on Friday during a demonstration against the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US is "encouraging our partners in Israel to quickly and robustly conduct and conclude their process and make their findings public so we can understand what happened." Patel added that the safety of American citizens is the department's highest priority.
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Eygi's family said she was peacefully demonstrating when she was killed, and video shows the bullet came from an Israeli military shooter. They have called for an independent US-ordered investigation, saying an Israeli investigation would not be enough. The Israeli Defense Forces has said it "responded with fire toward a main instigator" who was hurling rocks and is looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area.
Patel said if there were to be an American investigation, it would be conducted by the Justice Department, not the State Department. He added that the US expects Israel's investigation to be thorough and transparent, and for the findings to be made public.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, there have been accusations that Israel's army delayed a truck carrying needed polio vaccine doses, with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East saying a convoy was delayed by eight hours. Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the agency, said the convoy was stopped at gunpoint and that heavy damage was caused to UN armored vehicles. Polio has been found in wastewater samples in Gaza, and a 10-month-old baby was confirmed with the first case of polio in Gaza in August.
