WASHINGTON, DC — The US concluded Monday that
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by Israeli gunfire and urged accountability, but said it
could not make a “definitive conclusion”.
اضافة اعلان
“Ballistic
experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear
conclusion,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement after
what he called “extremely detailed forensic analysis” of the bullet reluctantly
handed over by the
Palestinian Authority (PA).
Abu Akleh was
shot in the head in Jenin on May 11 while covering a raid by Israeli occupation
forces on the refugee camp in the West Bank, despite wearing a vest clearly
marked “press”.
Palestinian
officials, international rights groups, and media outlets carried out
independent investigations that concluded that Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli
forces, Al Jazeera reported.
The UN human
rights office last month said that information it had gathered showed that the
bullet that killed Abu Akleh was fired by Israeli forces. Several witnesses
said Israeli forces killed the Jerusalem-born Palestinian-American journalist.
Abu Akleh’s
family said in a statement it was “incredulous” that the examination could not
determine whose gun fired the bullet that killed her.
“We will continue
to advocate for justice for Shireen, and to hold the Israeli military and
government accountable, no matter the attempts to obfuscate the reality of what
happened on May 11,” it said.
Senior PA
official Hussein Al Sheikh condemned efforts to “conceal the truth” over Abu
Akleh’s death, writing on Twitter that there should not be “shy references in
pointing the finger of accusation to Israel”.
The US Security
Coordinator (USSC), which directs security assistance to the PA in coordination
with Israel, said that both sides granted full access to their own probes over
the past several weeks.
“By summarizing
both investigations, the USSC concluded that gunfire from (Israeli) positions
was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” the State
Department said.
The PA’s attorney
general, Akram Al-Khatib, told AFP on Saturday that the bullet was handed over
to US forensic experts — and not Israel — on the condition that there would be
no modifications and that it would be returned.
But an Israeli
statement said that Israeli experts examined the bullet at a laboratory in
Israel — while the State Department said the process involved “independent,
third-party examiners”.
Israeli Defense
Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that it remained impossible to determine the
source of the shooting “and, as such, the investigation will continue.”
Further inflaming
tensions after Abu Akleh’s death, baton-wielding Israeli police descended on
mourners during her funeral and grabbed Palestinian flags, with the pallbearers
struggling not to drop her casket.
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