Funeral held for Turkish-American activist Aysenur Eygi as Israeli airstrikes kill 14 in Gaza

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish-American activist whom Israel admits was likely killed by one of its soldiers in the West Bank a week ago, was laid to rest on Saturday morning. 

Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who held U.S. and Turkish citizenships, was buried in her hometown in the town of Didim on the Aegean Sea. 

Eygi’s body had been earlier brought from a hospital to her family home and Didim’s Central Mosque. Thousands of people bid her farewell in the town’s streets, which were lined with Turkish flags.

The Turkish Justice Ministry announced an investigation into Eygi’s death earlier this week. 

“We are not going to leave our daughter’s blood on the ground and we demand responsibility and accountability for this murder,” Numan Kurtulus, the speaker of Turkey’s parliament, told mourners on Saturday.

Eygi’s father said Thursday that the family wants a similar investigation from the U.S. government, and said the U.S. would typically investigate the killing of one of its citizens like “an eagle on its emblem,” but alleged that “there is an attempt to evade the issue” when Israel is involved. 

Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a group that has organized protests against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the treatment of Palestinians since before the current war in Gaza began. She was attending a scheduled protest alongside other activists and Palestinians in the West Bank on Sept. 6. Demonstrators clashed with Israeli forces, but eyewitnesses said Eygi was shot after the protest. She was standing alone under an olive tree when she was shot once in the head, CBS News previously reported. 

The Israel Defense Forces said an initial investigation showed it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator” of what it called a riot. 

Her death was condemned by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the United States, Egypt and Qatar push for a cease-fire and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Talks have repeatedly broken down as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of making new and unacceptable demands.

Saturday was rocked by violence in Gaza, as Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern parts of the territory overnight. Strikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including three women and four children, while another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis. Earlier strikes this week struck a tent camp and a United Nations school sheltering displaced people. 

The war began when Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.