UN reports that Israeli gunfire killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
In its review of the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last month, while she covered an Israeli army operation, the United Nations office for human rights found that the shots that injured her colleague and killed her were fired by Israeli forces, not the Palestinians, despite Israel's claim that it was unclear who shot her.
"We have found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists," U.N. Human Rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement released Friday. According to the office, it reached this conclusion after gathering information from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney general. Additionally, members of the team visited the scene of Abu Akleh's shooting, spoke with witnesses and experts, and analyzed the video and other evidence.
On May 11, Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian American, was killed while reporting on a morning military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. While wearing a helmet and vest identifying her as a journalist, she was shot in the head.
The Israeli military and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett initially asserted that Abu Akleh was likely killed by Palestinian gunmen who shot indiscriminately - a narrative that was soon disputed by witnesses and B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.
Afterward, Israel acknowledged that it could be one of its soldiers who fired the shots, and it has been conducting an investigation of the incident. Israel has also dismissed the findings of outside inquiries which placed the blame on its military, claiming they were biased.
The Israeli government has called on the Palestinian Authority to conduct a joint investigation into the shooting. However, the family of Abu Akleh says that would be like relying on a suspect to investigate their own case, and they want the U.S. to intervene, as Daniel Estrin reported last week on NPR. Deputy State Department spokesperson Ned Price has dismissed the idea of a U.S. investigation, saying that Israel has the capacity to conduct an investigation that would result in accountability.