Thu 26 May 2022:
A Palestinian official has said that an investigation into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shows Israeli forces deliberately shot and killed the veteran journalist.
The findings echoed the results of a preliminary investigation announced nearly two weeks ago and were widely expected amid global outrage over the veteran reporter’s killing.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday from the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al Khatib said: “It was clear that one of the [Israeli] occupation forces … had fired a bullet that hit journalist Shireen Abu Akleh directly in her head” while she was attempting to escape.
Abu Akleh, 51, was hit with an armour-piercing bullet, the attorney general said, while she was wearing a helmet and a vest that was clearly marked with the word “PRESS”.
Al Khatib was reporting on the findings of a Palestinian Authority (PA) investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, who was shot on May 11 while covering an Israeli army incursion in the West Bank city of Jenin.
“The only source of firing was by the occupation forces with the aim to kill,” he said.
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Al Khateeb said his investigation was based on interviews with witnesses, an inspection of the scene and a forensic medical report.
Eyewitnesses and colleagues who were present at the scene had previously said Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli forces. Al Jazeera Media Network also said Abu Akleh was “assassinated in cold blood” by Israeli forces.
Al Khatib said the investigation showed that there were no Palestinian fighters near the scene of the shooting, negating Israel’s claim that the bullet may have came from the Palestinians. He said that the army saw Abu Akleh along with other journalists who were all clearly marked as members of the press.
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‘Bring Shireen justice’
Aside from Abu Akleh, another Al Jazeera journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, was also wounded by a bullet to the back at the scene. He is now in a stable condition.
According Al Khatib, an autopsy and forensic examination conducted in Nablus after Abu Akleh’s death showed she was shot from the back, indicating that she was attempting to flee as Israeli forces continued to fire towards the group of journalists.
“Ali Samoudi was hit by a bullet in his back, and the Israeli occupation forces continued their attack on the journalists, who tried to escape and leave,” Al Khatib said.
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There was no immediate response from Israel. Israel’s military prosecutor has called on the army to conduct an in-depth investigation. But last week, Israeli media reported that the military had no plans to launch a criminal investigation.
Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah, said the bullet that killed Abu Akleh “was 5.56 mm, and it corresponds with mini ruger sniper fire weapon”, according to the findings of the probe.
“So this is part of the evidence the Palestinian attorney general has been analyzing since Shireen has been killed,” Ibrahim said. “They hope that this investigation gets picked up by international organisations, specifically by the International Criminal Court, to bring Shireen justice.”
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The findings of the probe came days after the Palestinian foreign minister announced it had formally asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Abu Akleh’s killing. Numerous calls for an independent and impartial probe have mounted since Abu Akleh’s killing, including by the United States and the United Nations.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said it is important that there is a “follow up” to this investigation.
“It’s important that various international institutions and legal groups are following this and that this becomes important also for Israel’s allies in Washington, London and Paris because we know for sure what happened when one country in the Middle East killed one journalist that happened to work for the Washington post,” Bishara said.
“Now we have a journalist who works for Al Jazeera who was killed by Israel, we know the ramification of killing Jamal Khashoggi, we know that something similar parallel has happened to the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh – will the US, EU and others treat Israel the same way? This is the question today.”
The PA has so far refused to hand over the bullet to Israel or cooperate with it in any way, saying Israel cannot be trusted to investigate its own conduct. Rights groups say Israel has a poor record of investigating when its forces shoot Palestinians, with cases often languishing for months or years before being quietly closed.
Palestinians are still mourning Abu Akleh, a widely known and respected on-air correspondent who rose to fame two decades ago, during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. She documented the harsh realities of life under Israeli military occupation for viewers across the Arab world.
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