ANKARA: Turkiye is investigating the killing of a US-Turkish activist during a protest in West Bank, the justice minister said Thursday, adding that Ankara would press the UN to take immediate action.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
The settlements are illegal under international law but supported by right-wing members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head. The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and said it was looking into the case.
“Turkiye has opened an investigation,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said.
He also said Turkiye would take the case to the United Nations and push for an independent inquiry into her death.
“We will work to ensure that the (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Arbitrary Executions takes immediate action, and that an independent commission of inquiry is established and prepare a report,” he said.
Tunc said Turkiye would forward that report to the UN Human Rights Council and to the ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“We will continue to defend the right of our sister Aysenur and our Palestinian brothers,” he added.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said the formal procedures for the transfer of the body had been concluded through its embassy in Tel Aviv and consulate in Jerusalem.
“The body of the deceased will arrive in Turkiye tomorrow,” it said, adding: “We once again condemn this murder committed by the genocidal Netanyahu government.”
Eygi’s family is still waiting for her body to arrive and is hoping to bury her in the southwestern town of Didim on Friday.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, said on Wednesday.
“It’s important that a young girl, martyred and sensitive to the world is buried here.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Turkiye probing killing of activist in occupied West Bank
https://arab.news/z34db
Turkiye probing killing of activist in occupied West Bank
- Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead last week while demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the West Bank
- The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting the US-Turkish activist in the head
Israel’s hostage forum releases AI-generated video of last Gaza captive
- The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling
JERUSALEM: An Israeli group representing the families of Gaza hostages released on Tuesday an AI-generated video of Ran Gvili, the last captive whose body is still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The one-minute clip, created whole cloth using artificial intelligence, purports to depict Gvili as he sits in a Gaza tunnel and appeals to US President Donald Trump to help bring his body back to Israel.
“Mr President, I’m asking you to see this through: Please bring me home. My family deserves this. I deserve the right to be buried with honor in the land I fought for,” says the AI-generated image of Gvili.
Gvili was 24 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
He was an officer in Israel’s Yasam elite police unit and was on medical leave when he learnt of the attack.
He decided to leave his home and brought his gun to counter the Hamas militants.
He was shot in the fighting at the Alumim kibbutz before he was taken to Gaza.
Israeli authorities told Gvili’s parents in January 2024 that he had not survived his injuries.
The AI clip was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing those taken captive to Gaza.
The Forum said it was published with the approval of Gvili’s family.
“Seeing and hearing Rani speak in his own voice is both moving and heartbreaking. I would give anything to hear, see and hold him again,” Gvili’s mother Talik said, quoted by the Forum.
“But all I can do now is plead that they don’t move to the next phase of the agreement before bringing Rani home — because we don’t leave heroes behind.”
The Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect in October, remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.
In the first stage, Palestinian militants were expected to return all of the remaining 48 living and dead hostages held in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10, militants have released 47 hostages.
In the next stages of the truce, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump in Florida later this month to discuss the second phase of the deal.
