London: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said that he will press Israel to make “fundamental changes” after the military acknowledged its fire likely killed a US citizen activist in the occupied West Bank.
After an initially measured response to Friday’s death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi pending a fact-finding exercise, Blinken said that the United States would raise her death at senior levels with its key ally.
The investigation, and eyewitness accounts, make clear “that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified”, Blinken told reporters on a visit to London.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“We have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change.”
Blinken renewed concern about the lack of repercussions for Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank as war rages in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Eygi, who was 26 and also held Turkish citizenship, was killed as she attended the site of weekly demonstrations against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Still pushing ceasefire
The Israeli military said it had found that it was “highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF (Israeli army) fire”.
It added that the fire “was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot”.
It still said that Eygi was killed “during a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tyres and hurled rocks towards security forces at the Beita Junction”.
Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian organisation, which on Saturday dismissed claims that ISM activists threw rocks at Israeli forces as “false” and said the demonstration was peaceful.
The United Nations’ rights office had earlier said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot in the head”.
The mayor of Beita, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa and her family also reported that Israeli soldiers killed her.
Turkey said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers”, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – a fierce critic of Israel despite his country’s ties with the country – condemning Israel as “barbaric”.
The United States is the crucial supporter of Israel, providing billions of dollars in weapons and diplomatic support.
Blinken also has been at the forefront of efforts to seek a ceasefire in the 11-month war.
He acknowledged that “very hard” differences remained, but said that all sides would benefit from a deal that would “turn down the temperature” in Gaza.
“It’s clearly in Israel’s interest,” he said.
Speaking next to Blinken, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy voiced outrage at an Israeli strike in a designated safe zone that officials in Hamas-run Gaza said killed 40 people.
Israel said it targeted a Hamas command centre.
“We’re meeting at a critical moment – a critical moment for securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the shocking deaths in Khan Yunis this morning only reinforcing how desperately needed that ceasefire is,” Lammy said.
Latest death
The United States has maintained its support for Israel despite repeated concern over the deaths of US citizens.
The State Department said last month that it would not impose sanctions on an Israeli unit involved in the death of a Palestinian-American grocer, Omar Assad, who died after being handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded in the cold.
The department said that Israel had already taken remedial action.
In 2022, the United States said it did not have evidence that Israel deliberately killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a journalist who held US citizenship.
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