The UN said on Friday (24), after leading an independent investigation into the case, that the shot that killed Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during an operation in the West Bank in May was fired by Israeli forces.
“All the information we have obtained, including that from the Israeli army and the Palestinian Attorney General’s Office, corroborates that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate shootings by armed Palestinians,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson. voice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He said it was “deeply disturbing” that Israeli authorities had not conducted a criminal investigation into the episode. “We did not find any information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists.”
Abu Akleh was a reporter for the news channel Al Jazeera and was following an operation in the city of Jenin when she was killed, even though she was identified as being from the press through a vest. She was 51 years old. The operation took place amid escalating episodes of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The UN statement is in line with an investigation released last Monday (20) by the American newspaper The New York Times, according to which the bullet that killed the journalist came from a location close to an Israeli convoy and was probably fired by a soldier of an elite unit of the country.
A few weeks after the reporter’s death, the Israeli army, which said it was investigating what happened, said that if a soldier from the country had fired the shot that killed her, it would not necessarily imply that he had had criminal conduct.
“As Abu Akleh was murdered in the midst of a combat zone, there should be no immediate suspicion of criminal activity in the absence of further evidence,” read a note that featured comments from military lawyer Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
The country has also been critical of all UN statements that question the way in which relations with the Palestinian National Authority are developed. Earlier this month, a report commissioned by the Human Rights Council blamed Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories for the cycle of violence in the region, which has intensified again.
A spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the team had recorded 58 Palestinian deaths in the West Bank, including 13 children, by Israeli security forces since the beginning of this year. She urged Tel Aviv to launch criminal investigations.
“International law requires an immediate, thorough, transparent, independent and impartial investigation of any use of force resulting in death or serious injury,” he said. “Authors must be held accountable.”
