Israel’s military has admitted that there is a “high possibility” that one of its soldiers unintentionally killed the veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Abu Akleh, who worked for Al Jazeera and was a household name across the Middle East, was shot dead while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, in May this year.
Palestinian officials have previously blamed Israeli soldiers for her death — which sparked outrage around the world and cast a spotlight on Israeli operations in the West Bank — while Al Jazeera accused Israel of “deliberately targeting and killing our colleague”.
A senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official said on Monday that the military had carried out a series of investigations but had not been able to determine conclusively how the 51-year-old Abu Akleh was killed, noting that Palestinian militants were also in the area.
But he said that there was a “high possibility” that she had been shot by mistake by an IDF soldier, who did not identify her as a journalist, in an exchange of fire with militants.
He added that the IDF was “very, very sorry for this tragic loss of life”.
Abu Akleh’s family reacted with anger to the announcement, accusing the Israeli government and military of trying to “obscure the truth and avoid responsibility for killing Shireen Abu Akleh”, and reiterating their calls for independent international investigations into the killing.
“Since Israel is incapable of holding themselves accountable, we are also pressing for a full International Criminal Court investigation and trial,” the family said. “Israel’s killing of our dear Shireen cannot be swept aside — no other family should have to endure what our family has had to.”
Abu Akleh’s killing — and scenes at her funeral during which Israeli riot police beat mourners, including her pallbearers, almost causing them to drop her casket — triggered fierce criticism from the international community and was followed by a series of examinations and media reconstructions.
The UN human rights office said that the shot that killed Abu Akleh came from the direction of Israeli forces, while the US said after reviewing Israeli and Palestinian probes into her death that unintentional Israeli gunfire was “likely responsible” for her death.
However, Israel’s military advocate general said in a statement on Monday that it would not open a military criminal probe into the killing, as there was no suspicion that an offence warranting such a step had taken place.
“Although there is a high probability that Ms Abu Akleh was shot by IDF soldiers, the circumstances of the incident, as they emerged from the operational review and other findings collected, do not raise the suspicion of a crime having been committed which would justify the opening of a criminal investigation,” the military advocate general said.
