Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 by Israel Defense Forces gunfire, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCDC) concluded, according to the statement, Friday, June 24, from a spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani.
“All the information we have gathered – including from the Israeli army and the Palestinian attorney general – supports the fact that the shots that killed Ms. Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from of armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by the Israeli authorities,” Ms. Shamdasani said at a press briefing in Geneva.
“We found no information to suggest that there was any activity by armed Palestinians near the journalists,” she insisted, saying it was “deeply disturbing that the Israeli authorities did not open to judicial inquiry”.
Other surveys with the same conclusions
The American-Palestinian journalist, star of Al-Jazeera TV, was wearing a bulletproof jacket with the word “press” written on it and a hard hat when she was hit by a bullet just below the cup of her helmet.
She was on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions, where Israeli forces were carrying out a raid. Several investigations, carried out by the Palestinian chief prosecutor or the American channel CNN, had also concluded that Ms. Abu Akleh had been killed by Israeli fire.
“The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, continues to urge the Israeli authorities to open a criminal investigation into the murder of Ms. Abu Akleh and all other killings and serious injuries committed by the forces. forces in the West Bank and as part of law enforcement operations in Gaza,” the spokesperson continued.
For its part, the Israeli army reiterated on Friday that it was “impossible” to determine how the journalist was killed. She “was not intentionally shot by an Israeli soldier and it is impossible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman firing indiscriminately into the area where she was or inadvertently by an Israeli soldier,” the official said. army in a statement.
‘No warnings’ or shootings
According to the HCDC, since the beginning of 2022, the Israeli army has killed fifty-eight Palestinians in the West Bank, including thirteen children. “International human rights law requires a prompt, thorough, transparent, independent and impartial investigation into any use of force resulting in death or serious injury. The perpetrators must be held accountable,” Ms. Shamdasani stressed.
“In accordance with our global human rights monitoring methodology, our office inspected photo, video and audio material, visited locations, consulted with experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses. “, underlined the spokesperson. Ms. Bachelet’s office concluded that the journalists chose an approach “making them visible to Israeli forces deployed in the streets”.
“Our findings show that no warnings were issued and no shootings were taking place at this time and place,” Shamdasani said, repeating that the journalists were wearing clearly marked protective gear. It was then that several piecemeal shots from Israeli forces targeted them, she said.
