United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announced, on Friday, that Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank on Wednesday, May 11.
“All information we have gathered … is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians,” UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
“We at the UN Human Rights Office have concluded our independent monitoring into the incident.”
“The shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities,” she said.
“We have found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists,” Shamdasani added.
Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 while covering clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Repeated rejection
The Israeli army responded to the United Nations statement, claiming that nothing confirmed that any of its members had caused the death of Shireen.
In a statement posted on Twitter by his spokesman, Avichai Adraee, he said that the UN commission’s report is “biased”, again calling on the Palestinian side to hand over the bullet.
He added, “Our investigation confirms that the shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh was not done intentionally, but it does not confirm that she was killed by one of our soldiers.”
American demands
On Thursday, June 23, a group of 24 US senators urged President Joe Biden to ensure the United States has a direct role in the crime investigation.
The group, made up of Democrats and two independents, called for a “comprehensive, transparent, US-sponsored investigation.”
A preliminary Israeli investigation had claimed that it was “impossible to immediately determine the source of the bullet that killed the Al-Jazeera correspondent.” Israel rejected the call for an international investigation, stressing the “seriousness” of internal legal procedures.
Several media platforms have concluded that the Israeli forces are likely to be responsible for the killing of Abu Akleh.
On Monday, June 20, a new investigation by the American newspaper The New York Times concluded that the bullet that killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was probably fired by an elite Israeli soldier.
On Thursday, June 16, Al-Jazeera network published a picture of the bullet that killed colleague Shireen. An investigation conducted by the network said that the bullet came from an M4 rifle.
The investigation indicated that the bullet was a 5.56 mm calibre used by the occupation forces, explaining that the bullet had been deformed after it entered Shireen’s head and hit the helmet she was wearing.
The investigation showed a re-simulation using 3D technology to learn more about the type of bullet used, its calibre, and the type of guns likely to be used to fire this type of bullet.
