U.S. says Israeli bullet likely killed reporter
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said Monday that the bullet that killed veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was likely fired from an Israeli position. But they said it was too badly damaged to reach an absolute determination, and there’s “no reason to believe” she was deliberately targeted.
State Department spokesman Ned Price, announcing the results of the probe, said “independent, third-party examiners” had undertaken an “extremely detailed forensic analysis” of the bullet that killed her after the Palestinian Authority handed it over to them.
The Palestinians reiterated that Israel was to blame, while Israel said its own investigation would remain open and did not address the U.S. conclusion that its troops were likely responsible.
Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American correspondent, was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid on May 11 in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has strongly denied she was deliberately targeted, but says an Israeli soldier may have hit her by mistake during an exchange of fire with a militant.
U.S. security officials examined the results of separate Palestinian and Israeli investigations and “concluded that gunfire from IDF [Israel Defense Forces] positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh,” Price said in a statement.
The U.S. “found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” Price said.
The probe was undertaken by the U.S. Security Coordinator in the region. While the bullet remained in the custody of U.S. officials throughout the process, the Israeli military said it was examined by Israeli experts in a forensic laboratory in Israel.
Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, the army chief of staff, ordered the investigation be continued “using all available means,” the military said in a statement. It said any decision on whether to launch a criminal investigation would only be made after the operational investigation is completed.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said “the IDF investigation was unable to determine who is responsible for the tragic death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, but it was able to determine conclusively that there was no intention to harm her.”
He did not address the U.S. conclusion that the bullet that struck her was likely fired from an Israeli position.
The Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting Abu Akleh within hours of her death.
Nabil Abu Rdeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinian Authority holds Israel “fully responsible” for Abu Akleh’s killing and will not accept “any manipulation of the results of the Palestinian investigation.”