WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for Israel to provide “full accountability” after the killing of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Eygi in the West Bank by its forces, demanding the country “do more” to avoid such killings.
“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” Biden said in a statement.
Top US officials had on Tuesday urged Israel to make changes to its operations in the occupied West Bank after its military acknowledged its fire likely killed Eygi.
Eygi, 26, 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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
US urges Israel to conclude probe into killing of American activist in West Bank
“I am outraged and deeply saddened by the death of Aysenur Eygi,” Biden said. “The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable.”
The US president said Israel had “acknowledged its responsibility for Aysenur’s death, and a preliminary investigation has indicated that it was the result of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation.”
The Israeli military said it was likely Eygi was hit “unintentionally” by forces while they were responding to a “violent riot.”
Eygi’s family rejected the military’s version of events and called its preliminary inquiry “wholly inadequate.”
“She was taking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier,” they said in a statement.
Biden had earlier said the killing appeared to have been an “accident.”
On Wednesday, he said violence by Israeli settlers and Palestinian “terrorists” had been going on for too long.
“I will continue to support policies that hold all extremists – Israelis and Palestinians alike – accountable for stoking violence and serving as obstacles to peace,” he said.
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