Israel-Hamas war latest: Turkey investigates the killing of Turkish-American activist in West Bank

Turkey announced on Thursday its own probe into the death of a Turkish-American activist who was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, a Syrian pro-government media outlet and an opposition war monitor say an Israeli strike hit a car in southern Syria on Thursday, killing two people.

The developments came a day after Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed dozens more Palestinians, according to local officials. Strikes on a U.N. school being used as a shelter and two homes killed at least 34 people in the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, including 19 women and children, they said.

The Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here’s the latest:

Turkey launches its own probe into the killing of Turkish-American activist in the West Bank

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s justice minister says his country is investigating the death of a Turkish-American activist shot and killed by Israeli forces last week while protesting settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The 26-year-old activist from Seattle was taking part in a demonstration against settlements in the Palestinian territory when she was fatally shot last Friday. Israel is investigating the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi and its military later said she was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by soldiers.

Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Thursday that the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office was leading the Turkish probe. He also called on U.N. agencies, including the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, to investigate.

Tunc said Turkey would present its findings to a U.N. court overseeing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa over the war in Gaza.

“We will take every judicial step for our martyred daughter, Aysenur,” Tunc said.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Eygi’s body was likely to be brought to Turkey on Friday. Her burial is scheduled to take place in the Aegean coastal town of Didim, in western Turkey, in line with her family’s wishes.

An airstrike hits a car in southern Syria, killing 2 people, pro-government media and a war monitor say

BEIRUT — A Syrian pro-government radio and a war-monitoring group say an Israeli strike hit a car in southern Syria, killing two people. The Sham FM didn’t give further details on the Thursday morning strike on the village of Khan Arnabeh, near Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, also reported that two people were killed in the airstrike, without giving further details.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has carried out such airstrikes over the past months on the edge of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981. Israel says it is targeting Iran-linked militants.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed. Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.