Biden ‘outraged’ by U.S. activist’s death; Israeli strikes in Gaza, West Bank

Witnesses say that Eygi, 26, was fatally shot in the head last week by Israeli soldiers while participating in a peaceful protest against illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. In the statement, Biden described Eygi as “an activist whose idealism led her to travel to the West Bank to peacefully protest the expansion of settlements.”

“The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable,” he added. The president’s remarks mark a change in tone from his comments Tuesday, when he described her death as an “accident” while boarding Marine One. “Apparently it was an accident, ricocheted off the ground and just got hit by accident. I’m working that out now,” he said. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue, said that account was part of a more complete briefing of initial IDF findings given to the White House of the incident.

Biden’s Wednesday remarks on Eygi’s killing echoed those of top U.S. officials. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in London on Tuesday, called for “fundamental changes” in the way the Israel Defense Forces operates in the West Bank, including to its “rules of engagement.”

On Tuesday, Israel published its initial investigation into Eygi’s death, finding that it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire.” The IDF said forces were not aiming at her but at the “key instigator” of what it called a “violent riot” in the West Bank village of Beita, where demonstrators had thrown rocks at security forces.

Biden appeared to back the IDF’s assessment in Wednesday’s statement, saying Eygi’s death was the result “of a tragic error resulting from an unnecessary escalation,” adding that Washington had been given full access to the preliminary investigation. Eygi’s body is being repatriated to Turkey.

Across central and southern Gaza and in the West Bank, Palestinian authorities said Wednesday that Israeli forces killed at least 24 people in a fresh round of airstrikes.

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a family home killed 11, among them nine women, Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said in a statement. In central Gaza, another four were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat, Basal said.

In the Mawasi area of Rafah, a city in Gaza’s south, another four people were killed and another 15 injured in an Israeli airstrike, Basal said.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the three strikes in Gaza.

A medical worker at Gaza’s al-Aqsa Hospital, who spoke with The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity out of safety concerns, said they treated a woman injured in the Nuseirat strike. The strike, they said, tore off her nose and caused the woman to lose her right eye. “The maxillofacial surgeon doesn’t even know what do for her,” they said.

Five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike early Wednesday on Tubas, a village in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The IDF said it launched an operation in Tubas and Tamun, another village in the West Bank, and said it had hit an armed militant cell.

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A fuel tanker crashed into a bus stop near the West Bank settlement of Giv’at Asaf, Israel’s ambulance service said Wednesday. The IDF described the incident as an “attack,” and said it had killed a militant at the scene. The Post could not independently verify the details.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump both said they wanted a settled end to Israel’s war in Gaza. In Tuesday night’s presidential debate, Harris largely hewed to the Biden administration’s stance, reiterating her support for Israel’s right to self-defense while lamenting the loss of innocent Palestinian lives. Trump claimed that if elected, he would be able to end the conflict during the presidential transition period.

The IDF said it struck around 30 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in a post on Telegram. Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group have been exchanging fire across Lebanon’s border with Israel since October, raising the specter of a full-blown conflict.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven injured when an Israeli military helicopter crashed in Gaza’s Rafah area, the IDF said Wednesday. The IDF, which is investigating the crash, said there was no early indication that the crash was caused by enemy fire.

At least 41,020 people have been killed and 94,925 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 342 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.

Sands reported from London and Mahfouz from Cairo.