An Italian woman who was with Turkish-American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi when the activist was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last week has recounted to the Anadolu Agency what she witnessed during the attack.
Mariam, who only gave her first name, said they were standing in an olive grove near Evyatar, an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, when Israeli soldiers opened fire.
“Palestinians prayed the Friday prayer. After the prayer, incidents broke out between the Palestinians and the army. The Israeli army dispersed the crowd using tear gas and then live bullets. We retreated down the hill to the side of the road, and about 200 metres [656 ft] away, there were Israeli soldiers on the roof of a Palestinian house. We were standing by the side of the road in an olive grove. Aysenur was a little behind me under an olive tree,” Mariam told Anadolu from the Rafidia hospital in Nablus.
“We were clearly visible to the soldiers. We were just standing there, not doing anything. Suddenly, I heard two shots. One of them hit a metal object. Then my friends called out my name. Aysenur was lying unconscious under a tree. We called for more people. We put her in an ambulance. We came with her to Beita Health Center and from there, we brought her to the hospital in Nablus. They tried to save her but she died.”