Al Jazeera Journalist Was Likely Mistakenly Killed by Israeli Gunfire Per Israeli Military Investigation
Israel has concluded in its investigation that it likely inadvertently shot and killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh earliest his year.
In May, Akleh was shot and killed on May 11 while covering clashes between the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian gunmen at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. She was 51 years old.
“[I]t appears that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh,” said the IDF on Monday. “However, there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire.”
An Israel Defense Forces official told reporters ahead of the release of the findings that the military knows the soldier that “likely fired the shot.”
“It was a mistake and he is sorry for it,” said the official.
The unnamed soldier “was in a closed military vehicle under heavy fire,” said the IDF official. “From inside the vehicle he could only see a small area and he didn’t know he was shooting at a journalist. The soldier’s reports on the radio during the incident clearly point at a misidentification.”
The IDF official also said, “When they were firing in that direction, the soldiers were not aware they were firing at journalists. They thought they were firing at militants firing at them.”
No criminal charges will be filed over the incident, according to the official.
In June, the United Nations blamed Israel for Akleh’s death. The United States concluded in July that it was likely that Israel mistakenly shot and killed Akleh. That same month, during a visit to Bethlehem, President Joe Biden lamented the killing of Akleh, saying she “was performing very vital work.”
“The United States has suffered a loss as well including the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh,” said Biden. “And she was an American, American citizen and a proud Palestinian and she was performing very vital work and an independent media and vital work of democracy. Her death is enormous loss to the essential work of sharing with the world the story of the Palestinian people.”
Watch above via CNN.
