Israel military says ‘high possibility’ Al Jazeera journalist killed by one of its soldiers
The Israeli army has concluded there is a “high possibility” a journalist who died while covering a raid in the occupied West Bank was killed by one of its soldiers.
The Israeli army has concluded there is a “high possibility” a journalist who died while covering a raid in the occupied West Bank was killed by one of its soldiers.
Palestinian reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was working for Al Jazeera’s Arabic language channel when she was shot in the city of Jenin on 11 May.
She died soon afterwards.
Her employer later released a statement saying the reporter was “assassinated in cold blood” by Israel.
Following an internal investigation, the Israeli military said on Monday: “There is a high possibility that Ms Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen.”
A senior official said the military will not be launching a criminal probe into what happened and as a result, neither the soldier nor anyone in his chain of command will be punished.
The Palestinians also blamed Israel for the killing.
Israel initially said Ms Abu Akleh may have been shot by militants, but later said a soldier may have hit her by accident during an exchange of fire.
The results of the investigation found that troops conducting operations in Jenin had come under heavy fire from all sides and had fired back, including towards the area where Ms Abu Akleh was standing.
It was about 200 metres from their position, but the Israeli military said that the soldiers had not been able to identify her as a journalist.
Read more: How two videos represent two versions of a journalist’s death
It said it was also possible she was hit by Palestinian gunmen.
A senior military official who briefed journalists on the findings of the investigations said: “We can say for 100% sure that no IDF soldier intentionally directed fire on a reporter or non-involved person on the ground.”
Palestinian officials and Ms Abu Akleh’s own family have said they believe she was killed deliberately and they have rejected Israeli assertions that there were militants nearby.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “All evidence, facts and investigations that have been conducted proved that Israel was the perpetrator and that it had killed Shireen and it should bear responsibility for its crime.”
A forensic examination carried out by the US of the bullet which killed her failed to reach any conclusion because the bullet was too badly damaged.
