i24 News – Israel’s army said it was “not possible” to determine how Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed, after the United Nations on Friday blamed Israeli forces for her death.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) investigation clearly concludes that Ms. Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately… or inadvertently by an IDF soldier,” the military said in response to findings announced by the UN Human Rights Office.
Israeli and Palestinians officials have exchanged recriminations over the incident, which heightened the tensions. Israel repeatedly denied that any Israeli soldier “targeted a journalist.”
Earlier in the day UN rights official Ravina Shamdasani told a briefing in Geneva that “More than six weeks after the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and injury of her colleague Ali Sammoudi in Jenin on 11 May 2022, it is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation.
“We at the UN Human Rights Office have concluded our independent monitoring into the incident.”
“At around 06:30 in the morning, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with “PRESS” markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces,” the report further read.
“One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder, another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly. Several further single bullets were fired as an unarmed man attempted to approach Abu Akleh’s body and another uninjured journalist sheltering behind a tree. Shots continued to be fired as this individual eventually managed to carry away Abu Akleh’s body.”
