New Delhi: Israel has admitted for the first time that there was a “high possibility” Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by its own soldiers while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin, a stronghold of armed Palestinian groups in the northern West Bank.
The veteran Al Jazeera journalist – who had reported on the Israel-Palestine conflict for two decades — was tragically gunned down on 11 May, while colleague Ali Al Samudi was grievously injured.
In a statement Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “It appears that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh. However, there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire that was fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen, during an exchange of fire in which life-risking, widespread and indiscriminate shots were fired toward IDF soldiers.”
The IDF, however, did not definitely accept responsibility for her killing while releasing the statement that ended a months-long investigation into Akleh’s death.
The statement read: “… it is important to emphasize and clarify that throughout the entire incident, IDF gunfire was fired with the intent of neutralizing the terrorists who shot at IDF soldiers, also from the area in which Ms. Shireen Abu Akleh was present. Another possibility which remains relevant is that Ms. Abu Akleh was hit by bullets fired by armed Palestinian gunmen.”
The Israeli military, however, does not intend to pursue criminal charges or prosecute any of the soldiers involved, IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Office said in a separate statement.
The statement read: “After a comprehensive examination of the incident, and based on all the findings presented, the Military Advocate General determined that under the circumstances of the incident, despite the dire result — the death of Ms. Abu Akleh and Mr. Samudi’s injury — there was no suspicion of a criminal offense that warrants the opening of an MPCID investigation.”
It said there was no suspicion that “a bullet was fired deliberately at anyone identified as a civilian and in particular at anyone identified as a journalist”.
A senior official told reporters that the IDF troops did not know they were shooting at the media, and said that Abu Akleh’s back being turned to the soldiers “was a contributing factor”.
In images from the scene of the shooting, Abu Akleh was wearing a protective vest that was labelled “PRESS” on both the front and back, CNN reported.
The official added: “When the soldier made that decision, it was a blink of a decision… The soldier did not intend to injure an Al Jazeera journalist or (journalist) from any other network.”
“The soldier is sorry, and I am sorry. This was not supposed to happen and it should not happen. He did not do this on purpose,” the official said. The soldier was not named.
The recent statement is a shift from Israel’s earlier view that armed Palestinians shot the journalist in the back of her head. Several independent investigations had shown that there were no armed Palestinians near her when she was shot and that the fire most likely came from the distance of an Israeli convoy.
Soon after her death which sparked international outrage, the United Nations had concluded that the Al Jazeera journalist was shot by Israeli forces.
UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani had told reporters in June: “All information we have gathered is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Samudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians.”
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