President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the murder of Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers as she attended a demonstration against illegal settlements in Nablus, West Bank.
In a message posted on X, the president said he strongly condemns Israel's "barbaric" response to the anti-occupation demonstration in the West Bank, which targeted a peaceful protest.
Erdoğan continued by saying that Türkiye would continue to strive to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes, genocide and occupation policy, which killed at least 41,000 innocent people in almost a year.
"We have learned with deep regret that our citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi has been killed by the Israeli occupation forces in Nablus, West Bank," the ministry said in a statement.
Eygi was involved with the International Solidarity Movement, the same organization as legendary peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was murdered by Israel as she tried to stop the demolition of a Palestinian house in Gaza in 2003.
The ministry continued by saying that Israel is trying to intimidate all individuals who try to support the Palestinian people and who peacefully struggle against the genocide.
"This policy of violence will not work," the ministry said, and added that Israeli authorities, who commit crimes against humanity and their supporters, would be held accountable before international courts.
Fouad Nafaa, director of the Rafidia Hospital, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Eygi, a dual national of Türkiye and the U.S., arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head.
Eygi, who was born in the Turkish city of Antalya in 1998, succumbed to her injuries despite attempts by medical teams to revive her, according to Nafaa.
Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire with live bullets on a group of Palestinians participating in a demonstration condemning illegal settlements on Mount Sbeih in Beita, south of Nablus.
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa confirmed that the victim was an American citizen and a volunteer with the Fazaa campaign, an initiative aimed at supporting and protecting Palestinian farmers from the ongoing violations by illegal Israeli settlers and the army.
Residents of Beita hold weekly protests after Friday prayers to oppose the illegal Israeli settlement of Evyatar, which is established on the peak of Mount Sbeih. The community demands the removal of the illegal settlement, which they view as a violation of their land rights.
Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghals wrote on X that the "Israeli occupation wanted to kill for the sake of killing."
"A war of extermination in Gaza and a war in the West Bank that eats everything green," he wrote. "It does not spare a child or any nationality."
Hussein Al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, wrote on X that the killing marked "another crime added to the series of crimes committed daily by the occupation forces."
Tensions have escalated throughout the occupied West Bank as Israel continues its attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 40,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.
Estimates indicate that around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
All Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal under international law.
At least 691 people have been killed and over 5,700 injured by Israeli fire in the West Bank since then, according to the Health Ministry.
