
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the killing was “unprovoked and unjustified” and showed the Israeli security forces needed to make some fundamental changes in their rules of engagement.
Turkish and Palestinian officials said last Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus.
Israeli Defence Forces commanders had conducted an investigation into the incident, the military said in a statement today.
“The inquiry found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot,” the military said.
“The incident took place during a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tyres and hurled rocks towards security forces at the Beita Junction.”
“The IDF expresses its deepest regret over the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,” it added.
Israel has sent a request to Palestinian authorities carry out an autopsy, it said.
On Friday, Israel’s military had said it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review”.
US officials had called then for a full inquiry, and said Washington would withhold judgment until Israel presented its findings.
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