NABLUS: Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, to pay respects to a US-Turkish activist killed while protesting against Israeli settlements in a nearby town.
The body of the slain 26-year-old, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, with her head covered by a keffiyeh, a traditional scarf symbolising the Palestinian struggle against Israel.
Palestinian security forces carried her body through the streets of Nablus, accompanied by the sound of Palestinian bagpipes, before a wreath was placed over her remains.
The memorial, which began at Nablus’s Rafidia hospital, drew large crowds.
The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot in the head.” The mayor of Beita and the Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported that she was killed by Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli army acknowledged it had opened fire in the Beita area and said it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired.”
The United Nations said Eygi had been taking part in a “peaceful anti-settlement protest” in Beita, scene of weekly demonstrations.
Turkiye condemned her death, while the United States called it “tragic” and pressed its ally Israel to investigate.
The commemoration was postponed from Sunday, due to a dispute between the United States and Turkiye over “details such as the burial location and the route her body would take,” said Mahmud Al-Aloul, a senior Fatah official.
Aloul said that “Palestine would be honored for the martyr to be buried here.”
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 23 Israelis, including security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where about 490,000 people live, are illegal under international law.
Hundreds in West Bank mourn slain US-Turkish activist
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Hundreds in West Bank mourn slain US-Turkish activist
- The memorial, which began at Nablus’s Rafidia hospital, drew large crowds
- Israeli army acknowledged it had opened fire in the Beita area and said it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired”
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
