Family of Turkish-American woman killed by Israel to meet Blinken

The family of a Turkish-American woman killed by Israel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday and call for an independent U.S.-led probe into her killing, the woman's sister told Reuters on Tuesday.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was killed on Sept. 6 as she took part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank amid Israel's war in Gaza.

"For the last three months, Blinken and State Department officials have repeatedly told us to wait for Israel, the government whose army perpetrated the crime against Aysenur, to investigate itself. This cannot stand," Ozden Bennett, Eygi's sister, said in a statement.

Bennett and Eygi's widower Hamid Ali will be among the family members meeting Blinken and State Department officials.

Eygi's killing and the surge of assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank have been criticized by Washington but the U.S. has announced no major policy change toward Israel, which the Turkish-American's family has condemned. Blinken called Eygi's killing "unprovoked."

Israel has acknowledged its troops shot the activist, but says it was an unintentional act during a demonstration that turned violent.

Israel is waging a war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza where tens of thousands have been killed in the last 14 months and over which Israel has faced genocide allegations that it denies. That Israeli assault followed an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 and in which dozens were taken hostage.

The International Court of Justice says Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal.