Hundreds pay farewell to activist killed by Israeli army
Nablus, Palestine - Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus paid farewell on Monday to Turkish-american activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli forces on Friday.
The funeral procession began from Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus, with mourners walking through several streets, chanting slogans condemning Israeli actions and praising foreign supporters, according to an Anadolu reporter.
Mourners performed the funeral prayer, led by Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas, with the participation of leaders from various Palestinian factions and a large public turnout.
The body, carried on shoulders, was wrapped in the Palestinian flag, with the head covered by the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh.
Eygi’s body is expected to be transported to Turkey.
Eygi, 26, a dual citizen of Turkey and the US, was shot dead by Israeli forces during a Friday protest against illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank.
Early on Monday, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli announced that his country is working to facilitate the handover of Eygi’s body.
“We continue the necessary work to deliver the body of our citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, to her family for burial,” Keceli wrote on X.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the specifics of the incident or the findings of the
autopsy.
Eygi’s killing echoes the case of American-palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in a similar manner in 2022.
Meanwhile, Germany on Monday deplored Israel’s killing of the peace activist in the West Bank.
“This is a terrible incident that needs to be clarified. The Israeli army and government are responsible for doing this,” Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Christian Wagner said at a press conference in Berlin.
Besides, Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor, and his family have joined many to speak up against the killing of Eygi.
In an interview with Anadolu, Kapos, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor from Budapest, Hungary termed the killing ‘outrageous’. “I think it’s an obvious outrage because she was, I think, deliberately targeted,” he said during a march for Palestine in London over the weekend.
Kapos also called out the double standards in coverage of Israeli violence against Palestinians, saying the killing should not be paid more attention to than the killing of thousands of Palestinians since October 7 last year.
“It points out the double standards of thousands of others. Palestinians are also being assassinated, murdered and nobody takes an equal amount of interest at all.”
He added that it also shows ‘the difference in human value given to a Western connected person or a Palestinian, and it should be equal, equal attention, equal treatment’.
Kapos was accompanied by his family members during the march, including his son Peter and daughter Andrea under a banner that said: ‘Holocaust survivor descendants against Gaza genocide’.
Eygi, 26, a dual citizen of Turkey and the US, was shot dead by Israeli forces during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank