Israel acknowledged that there was a “high possibility” that a soldier had killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

The Israeli army first recognized this Monday a “high possibility” that one of his soldiers killed in May to the journalist of the Al Jazeera channel, Shireen Abu Akleh.

Shireen Abu Akleh, of Palestinian and American nationality, shot to death on 11 May while covering an Israeli military operation in the Palestinian countryside of Jenin, a stronghold of the Palestinian armed factions in the occupied northern West Bank.

Akleh’s death occurred after an intervention by a special Israeli army unit in the area, which degenerated into armed clashes.

Cross accusations after Shireen Abu Akleh’s death

After the journalist’s death, who wore a bulletproof vest with the words “press” and a helmet, the Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera he immediately blamed the Israeli forces having killed her.

Israel has denied this accusation on numerous occasions, despite the fact that press investigations and a UN report concluded that the shot that struck the journalist was the work of the Israelis, although they ruled out that the shooting was intentional.

On Monday, the Israeli army released the “final conclusions” of its investigation and acknowledged that one of its soldiers fired in the journalist’s direction, mistaking her identity.

“There is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally shot by the Israeli armyby targeting suspects identified as Palestinian gunmen, “the report said.

The armed forces have indicated that they have studied the sequence of events “chronologically”, have analyzed the places, videos and sounds recorded there and have carried out a “simulation of the scene”.

According to the army, “Israeli experts” conducted a ballistic analysis on July 2, in the presence of representatives of the United States Security Coordination Committee for Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Due to the “worse conditions of the bullet”, identifying its origin was “difficult”, the army stressed in its report, stating that it was not “unequivocally” certain of the origin of the blow that ended the journalist’s life. .

The United States had also concluded that a gunshot fired by a The Israeli position had “probably” killed Shireen Abu Aklehbut he found no reason to believe this was intentional.

“The soldier was not trying to target an Al Jazeera reporter or a reporter in general … The soldier misidentified his target and regrets it,” a senior Israeli military official told a news conference Monday. “This shouldn’t have happened, it didn’t happen on purpose,” he added.

According to this official, the soldier, who is about 200 meters behind the reporter, did not see the word “press” on the front of her body armor. He also indicated that the reporter was shot in the back of the head.

The Israeli military prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that “there was no suspicion of a criminal act justifying a criminal investigation by the military police “, even though there is a” high probability “that Israeli soldiers killed Shireen Abu Akleh.

For its part, the journalist’s family on Monday accused the Israeli authorities of “avoiding taking responsibility” for her death.

“We are deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed,” the family reiterated in a statement. calling for a US investigation “credible”.

Source: AFP