US Elections: US demands full accountability for American activist’s death in West Bank during Israel-Gaza crisis

The US government has strongly condemned the killing of a 26-year-old American activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a part of the Palestinian territories, calling it “unacceptable”.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday said Israel must do more to make sure it never happens again.

Eygi, also a Turkish national, was shot during a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank. The US has demanded accountability and continued access to the investigation into the shooting.

“There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again,” said Biden, according to Reuters.

Eygi’s death occurred during a protest in the village of Beita, where Palestinian protesters have faced attacks from far-right Jewish settlers.

Although Israel claimed her death was accidental, Biden stressed that the US expects a transparent investigation into the case, according to Reuters.

“No one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest. The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) personnel in the West Bank,” said Kamala Harris.

Eygi’s family has called for an independent investigation into her death and criticised Israel’s explanation, claiming it was a targeted attack.

“To call her death an accident is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American. Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack,” the family said.

The incident has drawn international attention, with US Senator Patty Murray and Representative Pramila Jayapal urging Biden to launch an “immediate, transparent, credible, and thorough” US investigation into the killing.

The West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war, with Israeli settlements continuing to expand in the area, which Palestinians hope will form the core of a future state.

Most countries deem these settlements illegal, a view Israel disputes.

The International Court of Justice recently declared Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories as illegal and called for its end.

Biden also condemned the escalating violence in the West Bank, criticising both “extremist Israeli settlers” and “Palestinian terrorists”, according to Reuters.

His comments come after US officials called for reforms in Israeli military conduct in the occupied West Bank.