DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip –
A Turkish-American activist who was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank was laid to rest on Saturday in her hometown in Turkiye with thousands lining the streets and anti-Israeli feelings in the country rising from a conflict that threatens to spread across the region.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old woman from Seattle, was shot dead Sept. 6 by an Israeli soldier during a demonstration against Israeli West Bank settlements, according to an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.
Thousands of people lined the streets in the Turkish coastal town of Didim on the Aegean Sea, as Eygi was buried in a coffin draped in a Turkish flag, which was taken from her family home. A portrait of her wearing her graduation gown was propped against the coffin as people paid their respects.
Her body was earlier brought from a hospital to her family home and Didim’s Central Mosque.
Turkiye’s condemned the killing and announced it will conduct its own investigation into her death. “We are not going to leave our daughter’s blood on the ground and we demand responsibility and accountability for this murder,” Numan Kurtulmus, the speaker of Turkiye’s parliament told mourners at the funeral.
On Friday, an autopsy had been carried out at Izmir Forensic Medicine Institute. Kurtulmus said the examination showed Eygi was hit by a round that struck her in the back of the head below her left ear.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces.
Her death was condemned by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the United States, Egypt and Qatar push for a cease-fire in the 11-month-long Israel-Hamas war and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of making new and unacceptable demands.
The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza
Israeli airstrikes pounded central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people.
The strikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including three women and four children, and another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis with Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. They followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a United Nations school sheltering displaced on Wednesday.
The Israeli army on Saturday ordered Palestinians sheltering in the northern neighborhoods of Manshiyeh, Beit Lahia and Sheikh Zayed to evacuate south toward Gaza City. The order came after projectiles were fired from the area, the Israeli army said in a post on X. It remains unclear how many people are sheltering in those areas.
First phase of anti-polio campaign ends
Meanwhile, a campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio drew down and the World Health Organization said about 559,000 under the age of 10 have recovered from their first dose, seven out of every eight children the campaign aimed to vaccinate. The second doses are expected to begin later this month as part of an effort in which the WHO said parties had already agreed to.
“As we prepare for the next round in four weeks, we’re hopeful these pauses will hold, because this campaign has clearly shown the world what’s possible when peace is given a chance,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in Gaza and the West Bank, said in a statement on Saturday.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.
Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Sam Metz in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.
