Islam Times - Ankara to Seek Int'l Arrest Warrants over Israeli Shooting of Dual Turkish-US National

Ankara to Seek Int'l Arrest Warrants over Israeli Shooting of Dual Turkish-US National

Islam Times - Ankara announced that it has opened an investigation into the death of a Turkish-American activist shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank and will request international arrest warrants.

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old volunteer with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement, died in hospital on Friday after being shot in the head during a protest in Beita, near Nablus.

Witnesses say she was shot at by Israeli soldiers positioned in a nearby field.

Reuters reported that her body will arrive for burial in Turkey on Friday. It added Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said she “was deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli troops during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians".

"We will make every effort to ensure that this crime does not go unpunished,” it added.

Turkey’s Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç stated the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office is investigating “those responsible for the martyrdom and murder of our sister”, and told reporters that Turkey had evidence regarding the killing and would make international arrest requests.

The Associated Press reported that the doctors who treated Eygi, who also had Turkish citizenship, said she was shot in the head.

Israel’s military has announced it is very likely its soldiers fired the shot that killed Eygi at a demonstration in the occupied West Bank last week but claimed her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli Army added it had conducted an inquiry into the incident.

US President Joe Biden has also called the shooting of the activist in the head by an Israeli sniper in the occupied West Bank an "accident".

"Apparently it was an accident -- it ricocheted off the ground, and she got hit by accident. I'm working that out now," Biden told reporters Tuesday.

The partner of the American activist pushed back on Biden calling the shooting “an accident”.

Biden has faced intense criticism from some Democrats over his handling of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, which has left tens of thousands of Palestinians in the besieged enclave dead.