Israel acknowledged Tuesday that its forces had likely shot dead an American citizen near a demonstration last week in the occupied West Bank, leading Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call for “fundamental changes” in the way the Israel Defense Forces operates there, “including changes to their rules of engagement.”
The statement said the military had launched a criminal investigation of the killing.
In one of the sharpest criticisms the Biden administration has made of Israeli military operations in the West Bank, Blinken said: “We’ve long seen reports of the security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians.” He spoke during a news conference in London with Britain’s new foreign secretary, David Lammy.
“It’s not acceptable,” he said. “It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.” He did not identify any specific changes the United States was prepared to make in policy toward Israel.
Blinken’s remarks seemed to contrast with a statement made by President Joe Biden hours later as he boarded Marine One at the White House en route to New York. “Apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and just got hit by accident. I’m working that out now,” he said.
That account was part of a more complete briefing of initial IDF findings given to the White House of the incident, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue. Asked about Biden’s remarks, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre referred to Blinken’s statement about the need for “fundamental changes” in Israeli operations.
Multiple witnesses who spoke to The Washington Post said that there were two shots in quick succession in the area where Eygi was standing, one of which hit her directly in the head, and another that appeared to ricochet off the ground and wounded a nearby Palestinian teen with bullet fragments. It was unclear whether Biden was referring to Eygi or the Palestinian youth, or whether the president — or the Israelis — had conflated the two.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, in a briefing at the White House, echoed Blinken’s remarks, telling reporters that “for an innocent bystander to be killed in a protest” was “very, very deeply concerning to us.”
Kirby said it was “noteworthy” that Israel had launched “a criminal investigation” of the shooting. “We’re going to be watching that very, very closely.”
But he sidestepped calls by Eygi’s family and others for an independent investigation of her killing. First, Kirby said, “we’re going to want to see where it goes now in terms of the criminal investigation and what they find. And if and how anyone is held accountable before we move beyond that.”
Eygi, who was born in Turkey and also held citizenship there, was raised in the Seattle area and was a recent graduate of the University of Washington. She had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group, when she was killed. Members of the group were observing a protest — a regular occurrence in the Beita area of the northern West Bank that had begun some years ago against Israeli settlement activity there.
Other activists on the scene said there had been a confrontation between Israeli forces and villagers after Friday prayers, where some young residents had thrown rocks. However, they contend that it was quickly dispersed as Israeli forces used live fire and tear gas, with Eygi and other activists retreating down the street.
Eygi was shot in the head as she stood in an olive grove after clashes had subsided, several activists have said.
A statement Tuesday from Eygi’s family called Israel’s preliminary inquiry “wholly inadequate” and said they were “deeply offended” by the finding that her killing was unintentional. “The disregard shown for human life … is appalling,” the statement read.
“Aysenur, an activist and volunteer, was peacefully standing for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering,” the statement said. “She was taking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier. This cannot be misconstrued as anything except a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has long advocated for the Biden administration to exert more pressure on Israel, said in a statement that Blinken’s remarks Tuesday were welcome, but that “the need for fundamental change in the IDF’s use of force in the West Bank has been evident for years.”
“It is our responsibility to seek justice and accountability,” Van Hollen said, “and in order to get that we need an independent, U.S.-led investigation.”
Violence has spiked in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the war began in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 630 Palestinians have been killed by security forces. During the same period, 18 Israelis, including 13 IDF members and five settlers, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank.
Over the weekend, a Jordanian gunman killed three nonmilitary Israeli security guards at the Israeli-controlled border between the West Bank and Jordan, the main point of entry and exit for Palestinians in the occupied territory. An IDF statement said that security forces shot the gunman, who had approached the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River from the Jordanian side in a truck, then exited the vehicle and opened fire.
The IDF has maintained that its raids, including airstrikes and ground attacks, are needed to eliminate the presence of Hamas and other militant groups in the West Bank. Last week, Israeli troops withdrew from the Palestinian city of Jenin after a days-long incursion that was one of the longest, deadliest and most destructive there in years.
Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages and individuals in the West Bank — at times in full view of IDF troops — have also increased in recent months as members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have called for annexation of the area into Israel.
Ahmad al-Khdour, whose son Mohammad, 17, a U.S.-born citizen living with family in the West Bank, was shot and killed while driving by an Israeli settler in February near his home in the village of Biddu, according to his family, said in an interview Tuesday that “this is an ongoing killing machine in the West Bank, if there will be no serious pressure by the U.S. administration to stop the war in Gaza.”
Khdour’s killing came a month after another Palestinian American youth, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, was shot in similar circumstances in a car close to his northern West Bank village.
“Every time we lose someone here, we say maybe this time [there] will be serious pressure on the Israelis,” Ahmad Khdour said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday that Israeli military forces were “storming” its center in Tulkarm, a town in the northwestern West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least one person was killed and eight wounded in the incursion into the town.
Birnbaum reported from London and Morris from Berlin. Matt Viser in Washington and Miriam Berger in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
