Israeli investigations into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May concluded that she was likely to have been unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but was not deliberately targeted, the military said on Monday.
Abu Akleh, a U.S.-Palestinian citizen, was shot dead on May 11 while covering an Israeli military operation in the volatile town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank in circumstances that remain heavily disputed.
The Israeli military says that troops conducting operations in Jenin had come under heavy fire from all sides and had fired back, including towards the area where Abu Akleh was standing about 200 metres from their position, but that they had not been able to identify her as a journalist.
It said โthere is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF (Israel Defense Forces) gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmenโ. It said it was also possible that she was hit by Palestinian gunmen.
One of the most recognizable faces reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for two decades, Abu Aklehโs death triggered outrage across the world, particularly after police beat mourners at her funeral in Jerusalem.
Other witness accounts of the incident have disputed that Israeli positions were under fire from the area where Abu Akleh was standing when she was killed.
โAll 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,โ said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abu Aklehโs family said it was โdeeply hurt, frustrated and disappointedโ by the Israeli statement which it said โtried to obscure the truth and avoid responsibility for killing Shireen Abu Aklehโ.
The Israeli investigation, which included interviews with the countryโs soldiers, analysis of the scene as well as audio and video recordings, found it was โnot possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfireโ which killed Abu Akleh.
But Israel has repeatedly denied she was knowingly targeted by its forces and said the investigation showed that soldiers had acted according to their rules of engagement.
โWe can say for 100% sure that no IDF soldier intentionally directed fire on a reporter or non-involved person on the ground,โ a senior military official who briefed journalists on the findings of the investigations said.
Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeeraโs local bureau chief, told Reuters that Israelโs conclusions of the incident were an attempt to avoid an independent criminal investigation.
โIt is clear that they are trying to perpetuate ambiguity and deception on the one hand, while at the same time clear themselves of wrongdoing by claiming that there was an exchange of fire,โ he said. โThese are all lies, because all the accounts and videos and witnesses disprove their claims.โ
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the statement issued by the Israeli military was โlate and incompleteโ and โdoes not provide the answersโby any measure of transparency or accountabilityโthat her family and colleagues deserve.โ
A report from the United Nations human rights office in June said Abu Akleh had been standing with other reporters and was clearly identifiable as a journalist from her helmet and blue flak jacket marked with a press badge when she was shot and killed by a single bullet. A colleague was wounded in the incident by another bullet.
The report said information it had gathered suggested she had been killed by an Israeli soldier.
Palestinian officials and Abu Aklehโs own family have said they believe she was killed deliberately and they have rejected Israeli statements that there were militants near where she was standing.
Forensic examination of the bullet which killed her, conducted under U.S. oversight in July, failed to reach any conclusion because the bullet was too badly damaged.
A report from the U.S. State Department in July concluded that she was probably killed by fire from an Israeli position but that there was no evidence to suggest she was intentionally targeted by Israeli forces.
