US slams Israeli killing of protester in West Bank, calls it 'unjustified'

US secretary of state Antony Blinken Tuesday demanded an overhaul of Israeli military conduct in the occupied West Bank, bemoaning the fatal shooting of an American protester against settlement expansion. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead last Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers. Israel's military said on Tuesday that it was highly likely its troops had fired the shot that killed her but that her death was unintentional, and it voiced deep regret.

In his strongest comments to date criticising the security forces of Washington's closest West Asian ally, Blinken described Eygi's killing as "unprovoked and unjustified". He said Washington would insist to the Israeli government that it makes changes to how its forces operate in the West Bank. reuters