An autopsy report prepared by the Palestinian Authority suggests that Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish-American activist, was directly shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, according to three forensic experts who reviewed the dossier.

The report, dated 6 September and drafted by a Palestinian medical committee led by Dr Rayyan al-Ali, contradicts the version of event given by Israel and US President Joe Biden, who said the bullet that killed Eygi appeared to have “ricocheted off the ground”. 

Three separate forensic experts who viewed the autopsy report told Middle East Eye that the damage on Ezgi’s skull and the destruction within suggest that it was a direct hit. 

“The bullet left a large damage inside the skull and it appears like it spent all its kinetic energy in the impacted area in parallel with gun fire that directly hits to head,” Polat Erdi, a forensic medicine expert, told MEE. 

Eygi, a pro-Palestinian activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was shot in the head when Israeli soldiers opened fire on protestors in the West Bank village of Beita near Nablus a week ago. 

Meanwhile, Turkish authorities are trying to gather evidence regarding Eygi’s death that could later be used in the ongoing trial against Israel at the International Court of Justice.