WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like the fatal shooting of an American protester against settlement expansion never happen again, calling her death “totally unacceptable.”
In a statement, Biden said while Israel has taken responsibility for her death, the US government expects continued access as the investigation continues over the circumstances of the shooting. Israel has said her death was accidental.
Turkish and Palestinian officials said on Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has seen repeated attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers.
Israel’s military said it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.”
A rise in violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank has stirred anger among Western allies of Israel, including the United States, which has imposed sanctions on some Israelis involved in the settler movement.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state.
Israel has built settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes that assertion, citing historical and biblical ties to the land.