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September 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
US President Joe Biden has said the shooting death of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank by Israeli security forces during an anti-settlement protest was an “accident”.
“It was apparently an accident: it bounced off the ground and she was hit by accident,” he said in statements to the press after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that her death was an “unprovoked and unjustified” act.
Blinken has previously indicated that Washington believes Israel should implement changes to its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank and has recalled the ongoing complaints about “excessive use of force” against Palestinians and about the actions of security forces during attacks carried out by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli army confirmed on Tuesday, following an investigation, that the activist was injured “most likely as a result of an indirect and unintentional shot that was intended for an instigator” in the midst of a “violent demonstration” in which “dozens of suspected Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at Israeli forces.”
The activist’s family has called on the United States to carry out an “independent investigation”, arguing that “given the circumstances of Aysenur’s murder, an Israeli investigation is not appropriate”, while the Palestinian government has “strongly” condemned the young woman’s “brutal execution”.
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