RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The
Palestinian Authority on Sunday called on
Israel to hand over the gun they say fired the shot which killed Al Jazeera
reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, according to AFP.
اضافة اعلان
Abu Akleh was shot
and killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp
in the occupied West Bank.
A Palestinian
probe said that an Israeli soldier killed the veteran Palestinian-American
reporter, echoing findings by Al Jazeera, CNN, The New York Times, and several
other major news organizations.
While Israeli
authorities have asked the Palestinian Authority to provide the bullet
extracted from her body so it can conduct their own ballistic investigation,
they have also changed their position on the investigation; early on they said
there would be no criminal review into the incident.
“We have refused
to hand over the bullet to them, and we even demand that they hand over the
weapon that murdered
Shireen Abu Akleh,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed
Shtayyeh said at a ceremony in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday to mark
40 days since her death.
According to Al
Jazeera, Israeli authorities initially said Palestinian fighters were
responsible for her death, circulating video of Palestinian men shooting down
an alleyway. However, researchers from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem
found the spot where the clip was filmed and proved it was impossible to shoot
Abu Akleh from there.
The Palestinian
probe concluded that Abu Akleh was killed using a Ruger Mini-14, a semi-automatic
weapon.
Israeli forces
said their investigation into her killing has centered on one soldier who fired
near the area where Abu Akleh was killed.
Abu Akleh’s
brother Anton told the
Ramallah ceremony — where photos of the reporter were
displayed — that the family was “only seeking justice for Shireen”.
Israel’s army has
said it has not yet concluded whether one of its soldiers will face criminal
charges over Abu Akleh’s killing.
But the army’s top
lawyer has said such charges would be unlikely given the circumstances
surrounding her killing that, according to the military, amounted to active
combat.
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