The Palestinian Authority on Monday denounced an attempt to “hide the truth” about the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after a US investigation concluded that she was “likely” the victim of Israeli fire but did not know. pronounce definitively on the origin of the ball.
“We do not accept attempts to hide the truth and we are not afraid to accuse Israel (…) which bears responsibility for the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh”, commented on Twitter a tenor of the Authority. Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh.
American investigation
The US State Department said on Monday, after a ballistics investigation, Shireen Abu Akleh was “likely” the victim of a shot from an Israeli position when she was killed on May 11 on the sidelines of an Israeli army operation in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
American experts have “no reason” to believe that it was an intentional shooting, added the State Department. The Israeli army, for its part, claimed to have examined the bullet and considered that it was not possible to determine “definitively” the origin of the fatal shot.
The “terrifying” family
The family of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh said they were “appalled” by the findings. “We are appalled by today’s announcement from the State Department (…) that an examination of the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh, an American citizen, did not allow us to conclude on the origin of the bullet. ‘gun that fired her,’ the family wrote in a statement shared on Twitter.
“Israel’s attention to the bullet (…) was an attempt to steer the narrative in its favor,” the family added, recalling that numerous UN and journalistic reports in recent weeks have concluded that the reporter had been killed by Israeli fire. “The fact that American investigators, whose identity is not revealed in the press release, believe that the bullet ‘probably came from Israeli positions’ is little consolation,” she said.
Palestinian prosecutor Akram al-Khatib said in a statement that the findings of the US investigation “surprised” him because Shireen Abu Akleh had, according to his investigation, been killed “deliberately” by an Israeli soldier .