The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it was highly likely that a slain American activist was “unintentionally” struck by Israeli gunfire last week at a protest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the killing was “not acceptable.”
In the toughest criticism the United States has leveled at Israel over the death of the activist, Aysenur Eygi, Mr. Blinken said that “no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest.” He said she was the second American to be killed by Israeli security forces in recent years, after a Palestinian American journalist was fatally shot in the West Bank in 2022.
“Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes to the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement,” he said at a news conference in London.
The Israeli military, in a statement describing its initial inquiry into Ms. Eygi’s death last Friday, expressed regret over her killing and said that it had meant to target a person it described as a “key instigator” of the protest, which it called “a violent riot.” Eyewitnesses have disputed Israel’s justifications for opening fire, saying that the clashes had finished by the time Ms. Eygi, was shot, and that they had occurred in a separate location.
Palestinians have long said that Israel uses excessive force against them at clashes and protests in the West Bank, but the death of Ms. Eygi has shined a spotlight on the issue. An autopsy report obtained and reviewed by the Times found a bullet hit Ms. Eygi’s head near her left ear.
The criminal investigation division of the military police has been investigating the episode and will share its findings with military prosecutors later, the Israeli military said. Ms. Eygi’s family has demanded that President Biden and other senior U.S. officials order an independent investigation to “ensure full accountability for the guilty parties,” saying that an Israeli inquiry was not adequate.
Human rights advocates said Israel has a history of failing to take meaningful action against soldiers accused of wrongdoing in the West Bank.
“We absolutely do not expect meaningful accountability to emerge this case,” said Sarit Michaeli, a spokesman for the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. “Similar incidents occur against Palestinians all the time and they don’t lead to any real consequences for perpetrators.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, two key eyewitnesses said the military hadn’t contacted them to collect their testimony.
The bullet, according to the autopsy conducted by forensic examiners at An-Najah National University in Nablus, penetrated Ms. Eygi’s head near her left ear, leading to a major bleed in the area. Fragments of the bullet were recovered, including one that was approximately 5 millimeters by 5 millimeters by 4 millimeters, and handed over to the office of the Palestinian Authority’s attorney general, the report said.
The autopsy said that the cause of death was “bleeding, edema, and laceration of brain matter,” adding that a CT scan of Ms. Eygi’s body didn’t show other injuries.
The office of the Palestinian Authority’s attorney general confirmed it received the fragments of the bullet and transferred them to a criminal investigations laboratory directed by the Palestinian police. The office declined to respond to further questions, saying it wouldn’t discuss other details about Ms. Eygi’s case while its investigation was ongoing.
Ms. Eygi, a Turkish American dual citizen who immigrated to the United States from Turkey as an infant and lived in Seattle, had recently arrived in the West Bank to join activists affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, who demonstrate alongside Palestinians in the West Bank. On Friday, she joined the protest, in the northern West Bank village of Beita, where residents have been demonstrating for years — sometimes violently — against a settler outpost on lands claimed by the village. The Israeli government had recently said it would legalize the outpost.
The Israeli military said on Friday that soldiers had “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity” who had thrown stones at Israeli forces. Witnesses at the scene did not deny that some protesters had hurled rocks at Israeli troops. But they said the clashes had finished by the time Ms. Eygi was shot, and that they had occurred in a separate location around 200 yards away.
The demonstrations around Beita began before the current war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli settlers took over a nearby hilltop in 2021, erecting an outpost known as Evyatar on land claimed by the village. That prompted months of deadly protests in which several residents of Beita were killed and scores wounded.
The outpost was illegal under Israeli law when it was established, lacking Israeli government authorization. But in June, Israel’s cabinet agreed to retroactively legalize five such outposts, including Evyatar, following a demand by Bezalel Smotrich, the hard right Israeli finance minister and a settler leader.
Most of the world considers all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal under international law, which Israel disputes. Roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory alongside some three million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military occupation.
Jonathan Pollak, 42, a hard-left activist who said he was roughly 50 feet away from Ms. Egyi, said the soldiers were standing at an elevated location, undermining the assertion that their safety was threatened.
“She was not involved in the confrontations at any point,” said Mr. Pollak. “She was taking cover next to an olive tree when an Israeli soldier shot her dead without justification.”
No one in the area, Mr. Pollak said, was known to be carrying firearms other than the Israeli forces.
Over the past several days, friends and fellow activists have mourned her death, calling her a staunch supporter of marginalized communities.
“She was passionate about helping others and every action she did was through a lens of compassion and care,” Juliette Majid, a close friend who studied with Ms. Eygi at the University of Washington, said in an interview. “It’s heartbreaking that we lost such a human being.”
Edward Wong contributed reporting from London and Aaron Boxerman from Jerusalem.
