Al Jazeera reporter killed in West Bank raid
JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister promised a thorough investigation of the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on Wednesday and asked that Palestinian officials hand over the bullet that killed her.
Benny Gantz told reporters that Israel has been in touch with U.S. and Palestinian officials, and said all parts of the investigation would be made public.
While the military initially suggested Abu Akleh might have been killed by stray fire from Palestinians, while she was covering an Israel raid in the West Bank, Gantz was more cautious Wednesday evening. “We are trying to figure out exactly what happened . ... I don’t have final conclusions.”
“I am very sorry for what happened,” Gantz told reporters. “Currently we do not know what was the direct cause of Shireen’s death. We are very decisive to have a full-scale investigation of this process, and we hope to get Palestinian cooperation on this issue. Without the report of the pathological findings and the forensic findings, it would be very hard for us to find out what happened on the ground.”
“We investigated all the troops that were part of the operation,“he added. “So far, we don’t have any final conclusion.”
Abu Akleh’s death could draw new scrutiny of Israel’s military justice system, which is being examined as part of a war crimes probe conducted by the International Criminal Court. It also threatened to further strain often rocky relations between the army and the international media.
Abu Akleh, 51, was a respected and familiar face in the Middle East, known for her coverage on Al Jazeera Arabic of the harsh realities of Israel’s open-ended military occupation of the Palestinians, now in its 55th year. She was widely recognized in the West Bank and was also a U.S. citizen.
Her death reverberated across the region. Arab governments condemned the killing.
There was also an outpouring of grief in the West Bank. In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian autonomy government, Abu Akleh’s body, draped in a Palestinian flag and covered by a wreath of flowers, was carried through downtown streets. Hundreds chanted, “With our spirit, with our blood, we will redeem you, Shireen.”
On Thursday, a procession was to take the body for burial in Jerusalem, where Abu Akleh was born.
In East Jerusalem, dozens of mourners gathered at the family home to honor her. Lina Abu Akleh, her niece, called her “my best friend, my second mom, my companion.”
Abu Akleh was killed on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, known as a bastion of militants. Israel has conducted near-daily raids in Jenin in recent weeks following a series of deadly attacks inside Israel carried out by militants from the area.
Kohavi, the Israeli military chief, said his forces came under attack by indiscriminate fire from Palestinian militants. The army released a body cam video of forces in the town while heavy fire is heard in the background.
Abu Akleh’s producer, Palestinian journalist Ali Samoudi, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back. He said any suggestion they were shot by militants was a “complete lie.”