US citizen volunteering in occupied West Bank reportedly shot in head and killed by Israeli troops
Beita, West Bank - A US citizen was reportedly shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank on Friday.
Palestinian media and activists on X identified the victim as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American national who had reportedly traveled to the West Bank in solidarity with Palestinians who are being besieged by Israeli settlers and soldiers.
Photos of the 26-year-old's passport app were posted alongside grisly footage of a heavily bleeding person having their head frantically bandaged in gauze.
A social media profile with the same name and photos matching the appearance of Eygi lists her as a "Psychology graduate with a minor in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Washington."
She was reportedly killed in or near the town of Beita, where weekly marches are held by Palestinian locals against an expanding illegal settlement encroaching on their land.
Israeli troops – who usually accompany settlers in their racist rampages across the West Bank and often actively take part in them – are accused of firing live ammunition at protesters and fatally striking Eygi in the head.
The Israeli army has so far not commented on the incident.
US citizens killed with impunity by Israeli forces
It would not be the first time US citizens have been killed or injured with impunity by Israelis. A 17-year-old was murdered in January by an off-duty police officer and a settler, while a New Jersey activist volunteering in the West Bank was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers just last month.
Older cases include Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed in 2022, and a 78-year-old Palestinian-American beaten, bound, and left to die by members of an extremist Israeli army unit that the US recently decided not to sanction.
As Israel continues its year-long destruction of Gaza and wages war on the illegally occupied West Bank, President Joe Biden's administration has remained unflagging in its military and diplomatic support.
That all comes despite Biden's own promise made in February, after three US service members were killed in Jordan: "If you harm an American, we will respond."
Cover photo: Collage: LinkedIn & X/@RamAbdu