The Israeli army conceded for the first time on Monday that one of its soldiers had likely shot and killed Palestinian-American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh after having mistaken her for a “militant”.
Israeli authorities released on Monday afternoon the results of their investigation into the killing. Investigations by the United Nations, human rights groups and media organisations have found that an Israeli soldier shot Abu Akleh.
“There is a high possibility that Ms Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) gunfire that was fired towards suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen,” said the army’s final investigation report.
The acknowledgement by the Israeli army comes months after it had denied that one of its soldiers was responsible for killing the unarmed veteran Journalist while she was covering a story on a raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
“Our conclusion is that it’s not possible to determine unequivocally which gunfire killed her, but there’s a high probability that she was hit by an errant shot of an IDF soldier who did nit identify her as a journalist,” a senior Israeli military officer said.
In a background briefing for journalists before the release of the results, senior Israeli army officials said they had met the soldier, and that “if he did it, he did it by mistake”.
The 51-year-old journalist was shot dead by Israeli forces on May 11, while she was covering an army raid in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Multiple detailed investigations, including the United Nations, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and several media outlets, including CNN and the Associated Press news agency, found that Abu Akleh was definitively shot by Israeli fire and that there were no Palestinian fighters at the scene when she was killed.
Abu Akleh was wearing a clearly marked press vest and helmet, and was standing with other journalists, also in their press gear, when she was killed.
Source: Al Jazeera, Eyewitness News, Reuters, image from Twitter