Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued sharp condemnation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after the killing of Aysenur Eygi, a 26-year-old American citizen, during a protest in the West Bank.
Blinken, speaking in London on Tuesday alongside UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, condemned the incident as “not acceptable” and called for immediate reforms to how Israel’s military operations are conducted in the area.
Eygi, a Seattle native and University of Washington graduate, was attending a protest in the Palestinian village of Beita on Friday when she was fatally shot in the head. The IDF acknowledged that it was “highly likely” she was hit by fire intended for another target during what they described as a “violent riot.”
Despite the IDF’s claims of an “unintentional” killing, Blinken said: “No one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. The Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank, including changes in their rules of engagement.”
Eygi had been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist group, and was reportedly standing in an olive grove, away from the main clash, when she was shot. Activists at the scene claim the protest had largely dispersed by the time the fatal shot was fired.
Blinken told reporters that the “killing was both unprovoked and unjustified” and vowed to relay these concerns directly to the “senior-most