Death of the Palestinian journalist: the origin of the shooting not determined, according to the Israeli preliminary investigation


The Israeli army said on Friday (May 13th) that it was not immediately possible to determine the origin of the shooting which killed the Palestinian-American journalist of Al Jazeera, Shireen Abu Akleh, during a raid on Wednesday. in the West Bank, according to the preliminary results of its investigation.

The Al Jazeera reporter was covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin camp in the northern West Bank on Wednesday when she was killed by a bullet to the head. She wore a bulletproof vest that read “hurryand a reporting headset.

Two possibilities

The conclusion of the preliminary report is that it is not possible to determine the source of the shot that hit and killed the reporterin the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp, the army said in a statement. “The investigation shows that there are two possibilities for the origin of the shooting having killed her“, according to the army.

The first option is that of a “heavy fire from Palestinian gunmen (in the direction of Israeli military forces), as hundreds of bullets were fired from several locations“, Estimated this source. “The other option is that during the shooting, one of the soldiers (Israeli) fired a few bullets from a jeep using a telescopic sight towards a terrorist who was shooting at his vehicle.“said the army, for whom he is”possible that the journalist who was standing near the terrorist (…) was hit“.

Lack of key elements

On Wednesday, Israel, after saying that the journalist had “most likelydied of Palestinian fire, said he did not rule out that the bullet was fired by his soldiers. The Israeli army said it would continue the investigation with all available means but regretted the absence of key elements that could determine the origin of the shooting.

The Israeli authorities are demanding that the bullet that was fatal to the journalist be given to them in order to carry out a ballistic examination. The Jewish state has proposed that Palestinian and American experts be present during this examination. “Receiving the bullet for a professional ballistics examination could decide between these two options.“says the army. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he held the Israeli authorities to “completely responsibleof the journalist’s death, refusing a joint investigation with Israel.

The Israeli authorities committed this crime and we do not trust them“, he said. A first autopsy was conducted in the West Bank shortly after his death but no results have been released.



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