Israeli strikes kill 27 in Gaza; Turkish-American shot in West Bank

Turkish-American woman shot in West Bank 

A Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was shot and killed by Israeli troops, Palestinian and Turkish officials said.

The White House said it was deeply disturbed by the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and called on Israel to investigate. Eygi was 26 years old and held U.S. and Turkish citizenship. Türkiye's foreign ministry said she was shot in the head and blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for her death.

Eygi had recently graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle where she studied psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures, her family said in a statement late on Friday.

Israel's military said its troops had fired toward a male "main instigator" who posed a threat by hurling rocks at soldiers. The military was looking into reports that a female foreign national "was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review."

There was no immediate comment on the incident from Netanyahu's office.

Latest death toll

Israeli military strikes across the Palestinian Gaza Strip killed at least 61 people in the space of 48 hours, local medics said on Saturday, as Israeli forces battled Hamas-led militants in the territory.

An Israeli airstrike in on the Halima al-Sa'diyya school compound serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia urban refugee camp killed at least eight people and wounded 15 others, medics said.

The Israeli military said the strike had targeted a Hamas command centre inside the compound. It accused the Islamist militant group of repeatedly exploiting civilians and civilian infrastructure for military purposes, an allegation Hamas denies.

Five more people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City.

Push for Peace

In a rare joint public statement, the heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies said they are “working ceaselessly” for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation.”

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, the two said a ceasefire “could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement.”

So far there has been no agreement, although United States officials insist a deal is close. U.S. President Joe Biden said recently that “just a couple more issues” remain unresolved. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, however, said reports of a breakthrough are “exactly inaccurate."

It comes as Biden prepares to host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer next week. "The leaders will have an in-depth discussion on a range of global issues of mutual interest, including continuing robust support to Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, securing a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, protecting international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific," the White House said in a statement. 

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