Israel army says there is a high probability one of its soldiers killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Israeli army says there is a high probability one of its soldiers killed Al Jazeera
journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
ABC Australia

The Israeli military says there is a "high probability" that one of its soldiers mistakenly
killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a raid in the occupied West Bank last May.
Key points:
 Shireen Abu Akleh covered the West Bank for Al Jazeera for two decades
and was a well-known face across the Arab world
 Palestinian officials and her family accuse the Israeli army of evading
responsibility for her killing
 Al Jazeera has accused the Israeli military of trying to circumvent the opening
of a criminal investigation
The well-known Palestinian-American journalist was reporting on an Israeli raid in a
refugee camp in the town of Jenin on May 11 when she was killed by a bullet that
struck her in the head.
The incident has since been the subject of several investigations and the source of
heated dispute.
Palestinian officials have accused Israel of intentionally killing Ms Abu Akleh, a claim
Israel has denied.
A long-awaited report by the Israeli military, released on Monday, revealed no new
evidence to back its claim that Ms Abu Akleh might have been killed by Palestinian
gunmen during a battle with Israeli troops.
It also said no-one would be punished for the shooting.
Both Palestinian officials and Ms Abu Akleh’s family accused the army of evading
responsibility for her killing.
"Our family is not surprised by this outcome since it’s obvious to anyone that Israeli
war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes," the family said in a statement.
"However, we remain deeply hurt, frustrated and disappointed."
Ms Abu Akleh, 51, had covered the West Bank for Al Jazeera for two decades and
was a well-known face across the Arab world.

In a briefing with reporters, a senior Israeli military official said there was a "very high
likelihood" that Ms Abu Akleh was mistakenly shot by an Israeli soldier positioned
inside an armoured vehicle who thought he was aiming at a militant.
"He misidentified her," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under
military briefing guidelines. "His reports in real time… absolutely point to a
misidentification."
"We know that he fired, but it could very well be that this happened from other fire,"

he added.

Jenin is known as a bastion of Palestinian militants, and Israel has carried out raids
there almost nightly since a string of deadly attacks inside Israel earlier this year,
some of which were carried out by assailants from the area.
Repeating previous Israeli claims, the military official said the soldiers had been
under continuous fire for almost an hour from multiple directions before Ms Abu
Akleh was shot.
‘The army released several videos showing Palestinian militants firing automatic
weapons and soldiers coming under fire that day.
But the military provided no evidence to support its claim that a fierce gunbattle was
underway at the time that Ms Abu Akleh was shot.
Amateur videos as well as witness accounts have shown no evidence of militants in
the vicinity and the area appeared to be quiet for several minutes before she was
shot.
Ms Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and vest marked "press" at the time.
The Israeli official said the soldier’s vision from inside the vehicle was "very limited,"
causing Ms Abu Akleh to be misidentified in a split-second decision.
He said the findings of the investigation had been turned over to the chief military
prosecutor, who was satisfied with them and decided against a criminal investigation.
Israel accused of ‘evading responsibility’ for killing
Critics have long accused the Israeli military of doing a poor job of investigating
wrongdoing by its troops. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accused the army
of carrying out a "whitewash," while Ms Abu Akleh’s family and the Palestinian
Authority both called for the case to be turned over to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) in the Hague.
The ICC has opened an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel in both Gaza
and the West Bank.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
dismissed the announcement as "another Israeli attempt to evade responsibility for
her killing."
He said all evidence proved that "Israel is the culprit, that it killed Shireen, and it
must be held responsible for its crime."
The Palestinian Authority, Ms Abu Akleh’s family and Al Jazeera have accused Israel
of intentionally killing Abu Akleh, while a series of investigations by international
media organisations, including The Associated Press, have found that Israeli troops
most likely fired the fatal bullet.
The United States concluded that an Israeli soldier likely killed her by mistake, but it
did not explain how it reached that conclusion.
‘Late and incomplete’
Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, said Monday’s report was "clearly an
attempt to circumvent the opening of a criminal investigation."
The Committee to Protect Journalists called the Israeli findings "late and
incomplete."
"They provided no name for Shireen Abu Akleh’s killer and no other information than
his or her own testimony that the killing was a mistake," said Sherif Mansour, the
group’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "That does not provide
the answers — by any measure of transparency or accountability — that her family
and colleagues deserve."
Israel has previously said Ms Abu Akleh was killed during a complex battle with
Palestinian militants and that only a forensic analysis of the bullet could confirm
whether it was fired by an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian militant. However, a US-led
analysis of the bullet last July was inconclusive as investigators said the bullet had
been badly damaged.
The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, declined to comment when asked about
the investigation at a news conference.
An Associated Press reconstruction of Ms Abu Akleh’s killing lent support to witness
accounts that she was killed by Israeli forces. Subsequent investigations by CNN,
the New York Times and the Washington Post reached similar conclusions, as did
monitoring by the office of the UN human rights chief.
AP/ABC