US demands overhaul of Israel conduct in West Bank after killing of its citizen

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin yesterday demanded an overhaul of Israeli occupation military’s conduct in the occupied West Bank as they decried the fatal shooting of an American protester against illegal settlement expansion, which Israel said was accidental.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead last Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers.

Israel’s military said yesterday that its initial inquiry found it was highly likely its troops had fired the shot that killed her but that her death was unintentional.

President Joe Biden later told reporters “it ricocheted off the ground” and a US official said that was the conclusion of the Israeli investigation, the results of which were presented to the United States on Tuesday.

Palestinian officials say that Eygi was struck in the head.

Eygi’s family called Israel’s preliminary inquiry “wholly inadequate” and demanded an independent US investigation.

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Hamid Ali, Eygi’s partner, said her death “was no accident and her killers must be held accountable.”

“The White House has not spoken with us. For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing,” Ali said.

Blinken and Austin, in their strongest comments to date criticising the security forces of Washington’s closest Middle East ally, described Eygi’s killing as “unprovoked and unjustified”. They separately said Washington would insist to the Israeli government that it makes changes to how its forces operated in the occupied West Bank.

“No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views,” Blinken told reporters in London.

“In our judgement, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement.

“Now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable,” Blinken said.

An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment on Blinken’s remarks.

Austin spoke to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the Pentagon said late yesterday, adding he expressed “grave concern for the IDF’s responsibility for the unprovoked and unjustified death” of Eygi. He also urged Gallant “to reexamine the IDF’s rules of engagement while operating in the West Bank,” according to the Pentagon.

The Israeli military earlier said an investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division was under way and its findings would be submitted for higher-level review once completed.

“We’re going to be watching that very, very closely,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, saying a criminal probe was an unusual step by Israel’s military.

“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,” Kirby added.

Following the release of Israel’s report, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with whom Eygi was volunteering, said it rejects this “specious” claim that she was hit “indirectly and unintentionally” and continues to demand an independent investigation of the Israeli army’s killing of the peace activist.

The Zionist regime’s account of the events is based blindly on the narrative of those responsible and their accomplices, insisted the ISM.

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