The US state department released a statement on July 4th declaring the killing of the Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh as inconclusive. The department’s spokesperson Ned Price made the announcement albeit evidence levying responsibility to the Israeli forces.
Shireen Abu Akleh was shot on May 11th, 2022, near the entrance of a refugee camp in Jenin, Israel. From the offset, Israel guilted Palestinian militants for the crime, but an illustrated investigation placed the Israeli army vehicles about 200 meters from the location of Abu Akleh and other journalists that were huddled together. A firearms expert said the Palestinian soldiers were too far from the crime scene to have been at fault for the attack.
The Palestinian prosecuting authorities forfeited the bullet that killed Abu Akleh to US forensic experts for further examination, and anticipated a thorough investigation to absolve their nation’s name from such a heinous crime. An Israeli military spokesman responded with, “the test will not be American. The test will be an Israeli test, with an American presence throughout.” The US investigation was carried out without the involvement of Israeli investigators.
According to the US Department of State, the US Security Coordinator (USSC) “was granted full access to both Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations” during the time examinations were carried out. The USSC eventually concluded that the Israeli forces were likely responsible for the fatal shot that killed Abu Akleh, but found no probable reasoning to scrutinize or escalate the situation against Israel.
Shortly after the blame on Palestine proved unlikely, the Israeli military stated that “Abu Akleh was hit either by indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire, or by an Israeli sniper positioned about 200 meters (about 656 feet) away in an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen.”
An investigation executed by CNN concluded that “ that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death. Videos obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.”
Shatha Hanaysha, a Palestinian journalist in the huddled of reporters Abu Akleh was with said “I thought they were shooting so we stayed back, I didn’t think they were trying to kill us.”
Shireen Abu Akleh was a respectable senior journalist that often brought attention to the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and highlighted the crimes committed averse to the livelihood of Palestinians
Previous attacks from Palestinian assailants that left Israelis and foreign personals dead might have ignited the constant surveillance by the Israel on Palestinian in the Jenin refugee camp. Raids on the camp have become regular occurrences, and some of the suspects’ locations have been narrowed down to the Jenin camp.
The raids often lead to the death of innocents.