RAMALLAH, West Bank: The Israeli military said Tuesday an American activist killed in the West Bank last week was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by its soldiers, drawing a strong rebuke from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the activist’s family.
Israel said a criminal investigation has been launched into the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle who was taking part in a demonstration against settlements. Doctors who treated Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship, said she was shot in the head.
Blinken condemned the “unprovoked and unjustified” killing when asked about the Israeli inquiry at a news conference in London. “No one should be shot while attending a protest,” he said. “The Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank.”
Eygi’s family in the US released a statement saying “we are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional. The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling.”
During Friday’s demonstration, clashes broke out between Palestinians throwing stones and Israeli troops firing tear gas and ammunition, according to Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting of Eygi.
Pollak said the violence had subsided about a half hour before Eygi was shot, after protesters and activists had withdrawn several hundred meters (yards) away from the site of the demonstration. Pollak said he saw two Israeli soldiers mount the roof of a nearby home, train a gun in the group’s direction and fire, with one bullet hitting Eygi.
Israel said its inquiry into Eygi’s killing “found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by (Israeli army) fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot.” It expressed its “deepest regret” at her death.
International Solidarity Movement, the activist group Egyi was volunteering with, said it “entirely rejects” the Israeli statement and that the “shot was aimed directly at her.”
The killing came amid a surge of violence in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, with increasing Israeli raids, attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and heavier military crackdowns on Palestinian protests.
Israel says it thoroughly investigates allegations of its forces killing civilians and holds them accountable. It says soldiers often have to make split-second decisions while operating in areas where militants hide among civilians. But human rights groups say soldiers are very rarely prosecuted, and even in the most shocking cases — and those captured on video — they often get relatively light sentences.
The Palestinian Authority held a funeral procession for Eygi in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday. Turkish authorities said they are working on repatriating her body to Turkiye for burial in the Aegean coastal town of Didim, as per her family’s wishes.
Eygi’s uncle said in an interview with the Turkish TV channel HaberTurk that she kept her visit to the West Bank secret from at least some of her family members. She said she was traveling to Jordan to help Palestinians there, he said.
“She hid the fact that she was going to Palestine. She blocked us from her social media posts so that we would not see them,” Yilmaz Eygi said.
The deaths of American citizens in the West Bank have drawn international attention, such as the fatal shooting of a prominent Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, in 2022 in the Jenin refugee camp.
Several independent investigations and reporting by The Associated Press determined that Abu Akleh was likely killed by Israeli fire. Months later, the military said there was a “high probability” one of its soldiers had mistakenly killed her but that no one would be punished.
In January 2022, Omar Assad, a 78-year-old Palestinian-American, died of a heart attack after Israeli troops at a checkpoint dragged him from his car and made him lie facedown, bound, temporarily gagged and blindfolded. The military ruled out criminal charges and said it was reprimanding one commander and removing two others from leadership roles for two years.
The US had planned to sanction a military unit linked to abuses of Palestinians in the West Bank but ended up dropping the plan.
The deaths of Palestinians who do not have dual nationality rarely receive the same scrutiny.
Human rights groups say Israel military investigations into Palestinians’ deaths reflect a pattern of impunity. B’Tselem, a leading Israeli watchdog, became so frustrated that in 2016 it halted its decades-long practice of assisting investigations and called them a “whitewash.”
Last year, an Israeli court acquitted a member of the paramilitary Border Police charged with reckless manslaughter in the deadly shooting of 32-year-old Eyad Hallaq, an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem’s Old City in 2020. The case had drawn comparisons to the police killing of George Floyd in the United States.
In 2017, Israeli soldier Elor Azaria was convicted for manslaughter and served nine months after he killed a wounded, incapacitated Palestinian attacker in the West Bank city of Hebron. The combat medic was caught on video fatally shooting Abdel Fattah Al-Sharif, who was lying motionless on the ground.
That case deeply divided Israelis, with the military saying Azaria had clearly violated its code of ethics, while many Israelis — particularly on the nationalist right — defended his actions and accused military brass of second-guessing a soldier operating in dangerous conditions.
Israeli military says it likely killed US-Turkish activist unintentionally
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Israeli military says it likely killed US-Turkish activist unintentionally
- The military said its inquiry “found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by (Israeli army) fire which was not aimed at her”
- The White House had earlier said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of Eygi
Uncertainty looms as first phase of Gaza truce due to expire
- The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive
GAZA:The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive.
The ceasefire took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war on Gaza.
Over the initial six-week phase, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
A second phase of the fragile truce was supposed to secure the release of dozens of hostages still in Gaza and pave the way for a more permanent end to the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a delegation to Cairo, and mediator Egypt said “intensive talks” on the second phase had begun with the presence of delegations from Israel as well as fellow mediators Qatar and the United States.
But by early Saturday, there was no sign of consensus, and a Hamas source accused Israel of delaying the second phase.
“The second phase of the ceasefire agreement is supposed to begin tomorrow morning, Sunday... but the occupation is still procrastinating and continuing to violate the agreement,” the source told AFP.
A Palestinian source close to the talks meanwhile told AFP that, despite the absence of a Hamas delegation in Cairo, discussions were underway seeking a way through the impasse.
Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase cannot be expected to start immediately.
“But I think the ceasefire probably won’t collapse also,” he said.
The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, rather than a second phase, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas, for its part, has pushed hard for phase two to begin, after it suffered staggering losses in the devastating war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire “must hold.”
“The coming days are critical. The parties must spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal,” Guterres said in New York.
The truce enabled greater aid flows into the Gaza Strip, where more than 69 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, almost the entire population was displaced, and widespread hunger occurred because of the war, according to the United Nations.
In Gaza and throughout much of the Muslim world, Saturday also marked the first day of the month of Ramadan, during which the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast.
Among the rubble of Gaza’s war-wrecked neighborhoods, traditional Ramadan lanterns hung and people performed nightly prayers on the eve of the holy month.
“Ramadan has come this year, and we are on the streets with no shelter, no work, no money, nothing,” said Ali Rajih, a resident of the hard-hit Jabalia camp in north Gaza.
“My eight children and I are homeless, we’re living on the streets of Jabalia camp, with nothing but God’s mercy.”
The Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The Israeli retaliation has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.
Though the truce has effectively held, there have been a number of Israeli strikes, including on Friday when the military said it targeted two “suspects” approaching troops in southern Gaza.
A hospital in Khan Yunis said it had received the body of one person killed in a strike.
In return for the release of the captives held in Gaza, Israel released nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
Gaza militants also released five Thai hostages outside the truce deal’s terms.
Lebanon’s president to Asharq Al-Awsat: Decision of war and peace lies solely with the state
- Aoun said Israel should have committed to ceasefire agreement by withdrawing from Lebanese territories
- Lebanese leader says during his visit to Saudi Arabia he plans to ask the Kingdom to revive a grant of military aid to Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants to build a state that has the decision of war and peace and stressed he is committed to implementing Security Council Resolution 1701.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, his first since his election in January, Aoun said: “Our objective is to build the state, so nothing is difficult. And if we want to talk about the concept of sovereignty, its concept is to place the decisions of war and peace in the hands of the state, and to monopolize or restrict weapons to the state.”
“When will it be achieved? Surely, the circumstances will allow it,” he told the newspaper.
Asked whether the state will be able to impose control over all Lebanese territories with its own forces and without any military or security partnership, he said: "It is no longer allowed for anyone other than the state to fulfill its national duty in protecting the land and the people ... When there is an aggression against the Lebanese state, the state makes the decision, and it determines how to mobilize forces to defend the country."
He also stressed his full commitment to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “The state and all its institutions are committed to implementing the Resolution” on the “entire Lebanese territories,” Aoun said.
On the possible adoption of a defense strategy, Aoun insisted that even if a state does not have enemies on its borders, it should agree on a national security strategy that not only deals with military goals but also economic and fiscal objectives.
“We are tired of war,” he said in response to a question. “We hope to end military conflicts and resolve our problems through diplomatic efforts,” he said.
Asked whether he was surprised that the Israeli army has stayed at five points in south Lebanon, Aoun said that Israel should have committed to the ceasefire agreement that was sponsored by the US and France and should have withdrawn from all areas it had entered during the war with Hezbollah.
“We are in contact with France and the US to pressure Israel to withdraw from the five points because they don’t have any military value,” he said.
“With the emergence of technologies, drones and satellites,” an army does not need a hill for surveillance, Aoun added.
"Saudi Arabia has become a gateway for the region and for the whole world. It has become a platform for global peace,” he said when asked why he has chosen to visit the Kingdom on his first official trip abroad.
“I hope and expect from Saudi Arabia, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that we correct the relationship for the benefit of both countries and remove all the obstacles ... so that we can build economic and natural relations between us.”
He said that during his visit he plans to ask Saudi Arabia to revive a grant of military aid to Lebanon.
On relations with the Syrian authorities, Aoun said he intends to have friendly ties the new Syrian administration and that one of the pressing issues is to resolve the problem of the porous border between the two countries.
“There are problems on the border (with Syria) with smugglers. Most importantly, the land and sea border with Syria should be demarcated,” he said.
Aoun also called for resolving the problem of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The Syrian state cannot give up on 2 million citizens who have been displaced to Lebanon.”
The refugees should return because “the Syrian war ended and the regime that was persecuting them collapsed,” he said.
- This article was originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat and can be read here.
PKK declares ceasefire with Turkiye after 40 years of armed struggle
Istanbul: Outlawed Kurdish militants on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkiye following a landmark call by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan asking the group to disband.
It was the first reaction from the PKK after Ocalan this week called for the dissolution of his Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and asked it to lay down arms after fighting the Turkish state for over four decades.
“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK executive committee said in a statement quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency, referring to Ocalan.
“We agree with the content of the call as it is and we say that we will follow and implement it,” the committee said.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984 with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for around 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million people.
Since Ocalan was jailed in 1999 there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed, which has cost more than 40,000 lives.
After the last round of peace talks collapsed in 2015, no further contact was made until October when a hard-line nationalist ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a surprise peace gesture if Ocalan rejected violence.
While Erdogan backed the rapprochement, his government cranked up pressure on the opposition, arresting hundreds of politicians, activists and journalists.
After several meetings with Ocalan at his island prison, the pro-Kurdish DEM party on Thursday relayed his appeal for PKK to lay down its weapons and convene a congress to announce the organization’s dissolution.
New demand by Israel risks shaky Gaza truce
CAIRO: The fragile truce in Gaza was hanging by a thread on Friday after Israel demanded a six-week extension to the first phase of the deal.
The 42-day first stage of the ceasefire — under which Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages, more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails and its forces partially withdrew from Gaza — ends on Saturday.
Talks on the second stage — the release of all remaining hostages and Israel’s complete military withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave — should have begun last month, but Egyptian security sources said on Friday that Israeli negotiators in Cairo were insisting on a further 42 days of the first stage.
Hamas said on Saturday that it rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, on the day the first stage of the deal was set to expire.
The group’s spokesperson Hazem Qassem also told Al-Araby TV there were no current talks for a second ceasefire phase in Gaza with the group.
Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed. “We call on the international community to pressure the occupation to... immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay,” it said on Friday.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian also said on Friday that she would like the ceasefire phases to move ahead as originally planned. “I doubt anyone in Gaza will want to go back to war,” she said.
However, there is also no sign of consensus on Gaza’s future. That uncertainty is complicating efforts to negotiate a lasting resolution.
A hostage-prisoner swap early Thursday was the final one under the initial stage of the truce.
Hamas returned the bodies of four Israelis and 643 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails. Many were awaiting treatment on Friday at a hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Among those freed was Nael Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner who spent more than four decades behind bars. Another released prisoner, Yahya Shraideh, said: “We were in hell and we came out of hell.”
Getting the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to the next phase will be difficult. Here’s why
- President Donald Trump took credit for the ceasefire, which Witkoff helped push across the finish line after a year of negotiations led by the Biden administration, Egypt and Qatar
- Israelis were shocked to see the captives — some of whom were emaciated — paraded before crowds upon their release
CAIRO: Israel and Hamas have begun working to advance their ceasefire agreement in Gaza to the next phase, but it’s unclear if they’ll get there and, if not, what comes next.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which paused 15 months of war, freed Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and enabled more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, expires on Saturday. The two sides seem willing to maintain their truce while negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar guide talks aimed at getting to the next phase.
The parties were supposed to have begun ironing out the details of phase two weeks ago. But talks were delayed as the first six weeks of the ceasefire were marred by disputes between Israel and Hamas over alleged violations of the deal.
Under the terms of the truce that began in Jan. 19, the second phase would compel Hamas to release all the remaining living hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war, in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners in Israel, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Over the past six weeks, Hamas has freed 33 living and dead hostages in exchange for more than 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. The militant group still holds 59 captives, 32 of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is reportedly seeking an extension of the first phase to secure the freedom of more captives.
Getting to the ceasefire’s next phase will be challenging
Getting to the second phase will be difficult because it will likely force Israel to choose between its two main war goals — the safe return of the hostages and the annihilation of Hamas.
Already, there are signs of strain. The agreement calls for Israel to begin withdrawing troops from a narrow strip of land in southern Gaza this weekend and to complete the process within eight days. But an Israeli official said Thursday that Israeli forces would remain in the Philadelphi corridor indefinitely.
One possibility is that instead of moving to phase two, Israel will try to extend phase one and push for more exchanges of hostages for prisoners. Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Mideast envoy, said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he hoped to negotiate the second phase during an elongated first phase.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly supported that idea. He is under pressure from hard-liners in his governing coalition to resume the war against Hamas. But he also faces pressure from the Israeli public to bring the remaining hostages home.
Witkoff said Netanyahu is committed to bringing back all the hostages but has set a “red line” that Hamas cannot be involved in governing Gaza after the war. Netanyahu has also ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, dominated by Hamas’ main rival, Fatah.
Hamas has said it is willing to hand over control of Gaza to other Palestinians, but it has dismissed Israel’s suggestion that its leadership go into exile.
That means the militant group, which does not accept Israel’s existence, would remain entrenched in Gaza. And it says it won’t lay down its arms unless Israel ends its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — — lands captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war that Palestinians want for a future state.
The ceasefire’s first phase has further embittered both sides
The first phase of the ceasefire has only deepened the mistrust on both sides.
Israelis were shocked to see the captives — some of whom were emaciated — paraded before crowds upon their release. After returning to Israel, hostages said they were held under harsh conditions.
Last Thursday, Hamas handed over coffins it said held the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two small children, who it said were killed in an Israeli airstrike. But Israel said a forensic investigation showed the two children were killed by their captors, and that the third body was a Palestinian woman. Hamas later released another body that was confirmed to be the mother.
On Saturday, Hamas further infuriated Israel by filming two hostages who were forced to watch the release of others. In the footage Hamas released, the hostages turn to a camera and beg to be released. Israel then delayed the release of hundreds of prisoners.
Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by killing dozens of people who the army said had approached its forces or entered unauthorized areas. It also accused Israel of dragging its feet on the entry of mobile homes and equipment for clearing rubble, which entered late last week, and of beating and abusing Palestinian prisoners prior to their release.
Mixed signals from Trump
President Donald Trump took credit for the ceasefire, which Witkoff helped push across the finish line after a year of negotiations led by the Biden administration, Egypt and Qatar.
But Trump has since sent mixed signals about the deal.
Earlier this month, he set a firm deadline for Hamas to release all the hostages, warning that “all hell is going to break out” if the militants didn’t. But he said it was ultimately up to Israel, and the deadline came and went.
Trump sowed further confusion by proposing that Gaza’s population of some 2 million Palestinians be relocated to other countries and for the United States to take over the territory and develop it. Netanyahu welcomed the idea, which was universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, including close US allies. Human rights groups said it could violate international law.
Trump stood by the plan in a Fox News interview over the weekend but said he’s “not forcing it.”
