Autopsy confirms Turkish-American activist shot by Israeli forces during West Bank protest

Fatal shot was fired from a long distance, according to examination of bullet entry wound, says forensic autopsy

A Turkish American activist killed on Sept. 6 during a peaceful demonstration in the occupied West Bank was slain when Israeli soldiers opened fire from a great distance, stressed newly released details from an official forensic autopsy.

The report said Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, had one firearm bullet core entry wound on her body, from a shot capable of causing death on its own, and added: “According to the skin and subcutaneous findings of the firearm bullet core entry wound, since no burns, smoke, soot and gunpowder residues were detected around the firearm entry hole, the shot was fired from a distance.”

Israel’s killing of Eygi earlier this month drew international outrage, including from a host of Turkish officials, and US Vice President and presidential contender Kamala Harris called the killing “unacceptable.”

The forensic autopsy report done in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir, where her body was recently repatriated before funeral services, said that no toxic substance was found in the blood.

A cerebral hemorrhage and brain damage were detected, the report added.

The report said the entry wound was damaged and the bullet core was removed in the first autopsy performed in Palestine, and no definite opinion could be formed about the direction of the shot or the bullet core due to a lack of images of the scene of the incident.

Eygi’s body, following the autopsy, was handed over to prosecutors for examination as “six metallic foreign objects were removed from the body, constituting evidence of a crime,” according to the report.

Taken as a whole, the report concluded that her death occurred as a result of fracture of the bones of her head, hemorrhage between the membranes of the brain, and brain tissue destruction due to firearm bullet injury.

Israeli killing of peaceful activist

Israeli soldiers opened fire on protesters during a Sept. 6 peaceful demonstration in the occupied West Bank, and Eygi, who was taking part in the demonstration in support of Palestinians, was shot in the head and seriously wounded.

Eygi was taken to a Palestinian hospital but died, despite doctors’ best efforts. Her body was laid to rest on Saturday in the Didim, her hometown in Aydin, Türkiye.

Eygi was a human rights activist who was a volunteer of the International Solidarity Movement, which supports Palestinians through peaceful and civilian means against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

US citizen Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003, also belonged to the same movement.