Pro-Palestinian US activist shot and killed by Israeli troops in West Bank
The United States said Friday it was "urgently" seeking information on the death of a US citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian official said she was shot in the head.
"We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death and will have more to say as we learn more," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
He identified the woman as Aysenur Egzi Eygi and called her death "tragic," without immediately assigning responsibility.
Turkey condemned the "murder" of the pro-Palestinian U.S. activist, who also had Turkish citizenship, saying she had been killed by "Israeli occupation soldiers".
The foreign ministry said in a statement that it had learned "with great sorrow that our citizen named Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed by Israeli occupation soldiers in the city of Nablus", adding that it condemned the "murder".
Witnesses and Palestinian media reported that the woman was shot by Israeli troops while attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration against settlement expansion in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on the shooting.
The woman was believed to have been shot while attending the protest against settlement expansion in the Palestinian town of Beita, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The protests happen regularly and have grown violent in the past. A month ago, American citizen Amado Sison was shot in the leg by Israeli forces, he said, as he tried to flee tear gas and live fire.
Dr. Ward Basalat, an emergency room doctor at the hospital, said he treated her for a gunshot wound to the head and that she died shortly after arrival.
Source: Agence France Presse
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