The United Nations (UN) human rights office has concluded that Israeli forces, and not Palestinian militants, shot dead a high-profile Al Jazeera journalist,
A spokeswoman for the UN said the findings were the result from “independent monitoring” of the incident which occurred on May 11, 2022. The killing of Shireen Abu Aqla, which happened while she was reporting on an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, caused widespread outrage.
Palestinians blamed Israel, but Israel said blame could not be determined yet as of the time. Reports suggest that the 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist was one of the region’s most experienced and admired correspondent.
Abu Aqla, who was wearing a protective vest with the word “Press” on it, as well as a helmet, was shot on a road near where a gun battle took place between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said its forces had gone into Jenin (a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank) to apprehend “terrorist suspects” following a wave of deadly attacks against Israelis by Palestinians, two of whom came from the Jenin District.
Eyewitnesses Account
According to account by eyewitnesses, the fatal shot was fired by Israeli forces, but Israel disputed the claim. It said it has not yet been possible to establish the source of the gunfire because the Palestinians rejected its request to examine the bullet that killed Abu Aqla or to hold a joint investigation.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, June 24, 2022, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, intimated that the department found that “the shots that killed Abu Aqla 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”, further adding that “It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation”.
Mrs. Shamdasani averred the information came from the Israeli military and the Palestinian Attorney General. She said that on the morning of the incident, four journalists turned into a street whereupon “several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli security forces. One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder; another single bullet hit Abu Aqla in the head and killed her instantly.”
Response from the Israel Defence
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded to the OHCHR’s allegation, saying it could not be proven which side shot Abu Aqla.
“An IDF investigation states that the journalist was in no way shot intentionally, and it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by Palestinian gunmen shooting indiscriminately in her area or inadvertently by an IDF soldier.”
Israel said it identified a soldier’s weapon which might have fired the shot, but that it cannot be certain without analysing the bullet. But the Palestinians on the other hand said they will not hand it over because they do not trust the Israelis.
Mrs. Shamdasani said the OHCHR “found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists”.
Last month (May 2022), a Palestinian investigation concluded that Abu Aqla was intentionally shot dead by an Israeli soldier. But the allegation was rejected by the Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, calling it “a blatant lie”.
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