Blinken Warns Of ‘consequences’ For Killing Of US-Turkish Activist

The US secretary of state has told Sky News there will be “consequences” for the killing of a US-Turkish activist by Israeli troops.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head in Beita, near Nablus, on Friday during a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The 26-year-old died in hospital the same day.

Antony Blinken said Israel had provided details of its preliminary investigation “and the actions that were taken are totally unacceptable”.

“I think it goes to, among other things, the rules of engagement that Israel has,” he told Sky’s Yalda Hakim.

Mr Blinken said the facts must be fully established and “we’ll draw conclusions from that, and there’ll be consequences to follow from those conclusions”.

However, he declined to specify what the consequences might be.

The secretary of state instead referenced action he said the US had taken against Israeli settlers and organisations behind attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

“We continue to review every incident that comes before us and as necessary, following the law, will take action,” Mr Blinken said.

Israel‘s military said on Tuesday that Ms Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally”.

It said it was “highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by [Israeli army] fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot”.

On the day of the shooting, Israel said troops had fired towards a “main instigator” who had thrown rocks at its soldiers and “posed a threat”.

However, a fellow activist from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) told Sky News the group was 200m away down a hill and “clearly visible” when Ms Eygi was shot.

Turkey’s foreign ministry called her death “murder”.

Ceasefire deal ‘90% agreed’

Mr Blinken told Sky News a ceasefire remained the “single best way forward” to end suffering stemming from the Israel-Hamas war.

For now, a truce remains elusive despite intense diplomacy and increasing pressure from the West and inside Israel itself.

Mr Blinken told Sky News “more than 90%” of the ceasefire deal put down on paper had been agreed by both sides – but “the closer you get to the finish line, the harder it gets”.

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The war began after Hamas killed about 1,200 people last October and took several hundred hostages in a surprise attack.

Palestinian authorities say more than 40,000 people in Gaza have been killed since then as Israel tries to wipe out the terror group.

Israel insists it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties but says Hamas fighters deliberately embed themselves among the population.

“It’s horrific,” Mr Blinken told Sky News. “The suffering of innocent men, women and children in Gaza is gut wrenching, and it hits me every day.”