One year after Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead by Israeli forces during a peaceful protest in the occupied West Bank, her family says their calls for justice have gone unanswered, with both Israel and the United States refusing to hold anyone accountable.
Eygi, 26, a dual Turkish-U.S. citizen, was killed by the Israeli military during a protest over illegal Israeli settlements in the town of Beita near Nablus on Sept. 6, 2024.
Despite video evidence and witness accounts showing that she was targeted by an Israeli sniper, the Israeli military's preliminary findings claimed she was "highly likely" hit "indirectly and unintentionally" as its forces fired at protesters allegedly throwing rocks.
Her family, friends and eyewitnesses reject Israel's account, calling her killing a deliberate attack on a peaceful protester and urging the U.S. government to launch an independent investigation. To date, no one has been held accountable.
For Eygi's husband, Hamid Ali, the past year has been both agonizing and surreal.
"It's felt like an extremely long time, but it's also felt like only a few weeks," he told Anadolu Agency (AA) in a video interview from Seattle, Washington, where Eygi grew up. "Obviously it's been extremely painful."
Ali said there has been no progress in the pursuit of justice.
"We're still asking for the same thing as we were on day one. There hasn't been any investigation or the results of an investigation that have been shared with us," he said.
"From the U.S., it's been the same kind of responses, or not responses, or inaction."
Seeing his wife become a symbol - her pictures displayed at protests and elsewhere - has been bittersweet for him.
"To us, she's still Ayşenur, she's still my wife. She's Özden's sister and her father's daughter," he said. "She's this real person that has flaws, that isn't the superhuman symbol or larger-than-life activist or anything like that... She was just a normal, average person, despite what she did, which was admirable."
At the time of her killing, the Biden administration urged Israel to carry out a "swift, thorough and transparent investigation." Eygi's family and rights groups say Washington has effectively deferred accountability to Israel itself.
Asked this week if the Trump administration would pursue accountability, a State Department spokesperson told AA: "The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens. We refer you to the Government of Israel for updates regarding the investigation."
The U.S. Justice Department and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to AA’s requests for comment.
Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation into Eygi's killing, but as of Sept. 4, 2025, it remains ongoing.
Brad Parker, associate director of policy at the Center for Constitutional Rights and part of the legal team supporting Eygi's family, said: "As it stands now, there is no open investigation by the American government, in any federal agency, into the killing of Ayşenur...One year at this point, with absolutely no accountability and not even a willingness to investigate by the American government."
Parker noted that U.S. agencies such as the Department of Justice and FBI have authority to investigate crimes committed against Americans abroad but have chosen not to act.
"The U.S. is essentially providing impunity, not just for Ayşenur's killing, but we've seen other Americans, Palestinian-Americans, killed in the West Bank, where the U.S. government is also silent, not taking action, not investigating and really essentially saying through their actions that Israeli soldiers and Israeli officials will not be held accountable for the killing of Americans," he told AA.
He said eyewitness accounts make the circumstances clear.
"Israeli forces shot her while they were stationed on top of a Palestinian home in the village of Beita. It's not a mystery. Many eyewitnesses, Israeli authorities know who the perpetrator is. They know who the unit is," he said.
"This is a very deliberate choice to provide impunity and not investigate and not hold people accountable that would work to end this violence that we're seeing in the West Bank," he added.
Parker also pointed to shifting public opinion in the U.S.
"The general public is shifting dramatically and wants to see accountability, wants to see justice, and wants to see Israeli forces, Israeli leaders held accountable, and to have the U.S. government stop sending weapons and money and providing diplomatic cover," he said, accusing Washington of providing cover to a government "perpetuating genocide in Gaza."
The United Nations Human Rights Office similarly said Eygi’s death reflects a broader failure to hold Israel accountable for violations against civilians.
Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told AA that while Israel announced an investigation into Eygi’s killing, “we have unfortunately not yet seen the results.” She described the protest in Beita as peaceful and said neither Eygi nor other demonstrators posed any threat when she was fatally shot.
“This raises serious concerns about the unlawfulness of the killing,” Shamdasani said, noting that it was “one of the rare cases in which Israeli authorities have launched an investigation, but we have not yet seen the outcome.”
Shamdasani emphasized that Eygi’s case is not an isolated incident but symbolic of a culture of impunity. “Ultimately, the victims of these violations are not receiving justice. This is a form of impunity that continues to fuel these violations,” she said.
A year on from Eygi’s death, Shamdasani said the key question remains: “What has your investigation revealed a year after the murder? Will justice be served in this case and will it be ensured that such an incident never happens again?”
She also condemned Israel’s ongoing targeting of journalists, human rights defenders and aid workers in Gaza, noting that 248 journalists have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. “The targeting of journalists is completely contrary to international human rights law,” she said, warning that media workers are “the eyes and ears of the world.”
Eygi is among at least nine U.S. citizens killed by Israeli forces or settlers since 2022. They include Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and 20-year-old Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, who was killed in July 2025. None of the cases has resulted in accountability.
After Musallet's death, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he had asked Israeli authorities to "aggressively investigate," calling the killing a "criminal and terrorist act." No progress has been reported since.
Eygi's family continues to press for answers. Her sister, Özden Bennett, will join Ali in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 15 to meet with members of Congress alongside families of other Americans killed by Israel. Together, they hope to increase pressure on the U.S. to launch its own investigation.
Ali said he has little faith in official action but remains committed.
"Nothing really has changed... but we're still fighting," he said.
