CNN reported on Tuesday that it had conducted its own investigation into the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Akleh in Jenin on May 11th, and said the results suggested she was a deliberate target of Israeli forces.
The IDF said the accusation was “completely unfounded”.
Abu Akleh was shot while covering clashes between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen during an ISIS operation in the city. The Israeli Defense Forces do not rule out that Abu Akleh was accidentally killed by Israeli fire, but says Palestinian armed men may also be guilty. She said she could not make a decision until the Palestinians refused to hand over the bullet that killed her for forensic examination.
In an article titled “They fired directly at journalists: New evidence shows that Shirin Abu Akleh was killed in a targeted attack by Israeli forces,” the network said it had consulted with experts in support of the allegation.
First, using an audio recording from the time the journalist was killed, the network said forensic audio experts found that the shots came from about 200 meters away – the alleged distance between Abu Akle and close IS forces at the time of her shooting.
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Second, she cites Chris Cobb-Smith, a security consultant and veteran of the British Army, who the network identifies as an expert on firearms. Cobb-Smith looked at photos of bullet marks left on a tree right where Abu Akleh was hit, and said they were indicative of controlled, targeted shots, not accidental bullets.
“The number of strikes on the tree where Shiren was standing proves that this was not an accidental shot, it was aimed,” he said, noting that evidence of Palestinian fire during the exchange showed “accidental splashes”.
CNN headline on the website of Shirin Abu Akleh’s death, May 24, 2022
He added that at a distance of 200 meters “there is no chance” that random fire will leave such closely connected traces.
“From the impact traces of the tree, it seems that the shots, one of which hit Shiren, came from down the street in the direction of the IDF troops. The relatively close grouping of rounds shows[s] Shearin was deliberately targeted, not a victim of accidental or indifferent fire. “
The Israeli Defense Forces said any deadly Israeli fire would have been accidental.
An unnamed senior Israeli security official told CNN: “In no way will the IDF target a civilian, especially a spokesman.”
In a statement later Tuesday in a CNN report, the IDF said it had been thoroughly investigating the incident since it happened and that its interim findings were unable to definitively determine the origin of the deadly shot; he reiterated that examining the bullet would likely allow for a firm solution, but that the Palestinian Authority had refused to provide the bullet. “The allegation that the shooting was directed [at Abu Akleh] it is completely unfounded, “it said.
Meanwhile, nearly two weeks after the veteran Palestinian-American reporter’s death, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that her reconstruction supported claims by both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akle’s colleagues that the bullet that struck her came from an Israeli pistol.
However, it does not accuse Israel of deliberately targeting it. He also stressed that his findings were vague.
Any final answer is likely to be elusive due to the strong mistrust between the two sides, each of which has only potentially important evidence.
According to the AP, many videos and photos taken on the morning of May 11 show an Israeli convoy parked right on the narrow road from Abu Akleh, with clear visibility. They show how reporters and other passers-by are hiding in real time from bullets fired from the direction of the convoy.
It states that the only confirmed presence of Palestinian armed men is on the other side of the convoy, about 300 meters (328 yards) away, mostly separated from Abu Aqlé by buildings and walls. Israel says at least one gunman was between the convoy and reporters, but did not provide any evidence or indicate the location of the shooter. Palestinian witnesses say there were no armed men in the area and there was no shooting until the shelling that struck Abu Akleh and wounded another reporter.
These witnesses say they have no doubt that Israeli soldiers have killed Abu Akleh, who is now known as a martyr to some journalists and the Palestinian cause. The Israeli military says she was killed in a complex shootout between soldiers and armed men, and that only a full investigation – including a forensic analysis of the bullet – can prove who fired the fatal shot.
Palestinian mourners take the body of veteran Palestinian-American reporter Shirin Abu Akleh out of Al Jazeera’s office after friends and colleagues pay their respects in the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 11, 2022 (AP / Nasser Nasser, File)
The Palestinians have refused to surrender the bullet or cooperate with Israel in any way in the investigation, but say they will share the results of their own investigation with any other country.
Abu Aqla’s death has further heightened tensions amid a wave of violence and raised new concerns about the safety of West Bank reporters, whom the Palestinians want as a major part of their future state.
AP reporters visited the site where Abu Akleh was killed, on the edge of the Jenin refugee camp in the North West Bank, and the scene of an imminent battle with Israeli forces, filmed in a video shared by Israel.
The agency said interviews with five Palestinian eyewitnesses confirmed an analysis by the Dutch-based research group Bellingcat, which showed that Israeli forces were closer to Abu Akle and had better visibility. The group, which specializes in geolocating events in military zones by analyzing photos and videos shared online, has located the convoy just across the street from where Abu Akle was killed.
The road and the convoy
Reporters who were with Abu Akleh said that when they arrived at the scene, it was quiet, without clashes or gunmen in the immediate vicinity. Ali Samoudi, a producer of Al Jazeera in Jenin, said he had called people to the camp to get an idea of what was going on.
They then continued on a long, narrow road that rose up from an open area to a group of concrete buildings, where an Israeli army convoy was parked about 200 meters (219 yards) away. Each reporter wore a helmet and a blue vest with the inscription “PRESS” in large letters.
“We went outside so they could see us,” Samoudi told the AP. “We weren’t told we had to leave, so we set off slowly, walking about 20 meters [22 yards]”
Flowers, flags and other souvenirs create an impromptu memorial at the site where veteran Palestinian-American reporter Shirin Abu Akleh was shot and killed in the West Bank city of Jenin, May 19, 2022 (AP / Majdi Mohammed)
Shata Hanaisheh, a local photographer, said they stayed there for five to 10 minutes, talking and even laughing in front of the soldiers. A video that seems to capture the first shots maintains her account.
Samoudi said the soldiers fired a warning shot, causing him to bend over and run back. The second shot hit him in the back. Abu Aqle was shot in the head and appears to have died instantly. Hanaishe took refuge on the other side of a tree against a wall. The bark of the trees on the side facing the army appears to have been cut off by a shot or shrapnel.
“We saw that the shooting came from the army,” Hanaisheh said. “When Ali and Shirin and I fled in disguise, we ran away from them.
Sharif Azer, a local resident who went to work, heard the shooting and ran to help. He can be seen in another popular video of himself climbing over the wall where Hanaishe was hiding and helping her escape.
After the assassination of Abu Aqlé, several shots were heard as people hid on both sides of the road. As Azer moved away from the tree, the shots echoed and he retreated, indicating that they were coming from an army position. He says he sees soldiers pointing their weapons.
“They shot at us more than once. “Every time someone approached, they shot at them,” he said.
Possible scenario
The Israeli military’s initial investigation into the shooting said there were two possibilities.
The first states that Palestinian gunmen on the other side of the convoy to the south recklessly fired hundreds of rounds, one of which could have hit Abu Aqla, who was about 300 meters (328 yards) away. Bullets fired by the M16 can travel well over 1,000 meters (1,094 yards).
But the military did not provide any visual evidence other than footage of Palestinian gunmen firing from another location that had no line of sight to Abu Akleh.
The AP said it had not disclosed any evidence to support this first scenario. It says the second scenario seems more plausible at the moment.
Lt. Col. Amnon Scheffler, an army spokesman, said there was at least one Palestinian gunman on the road between the troops and journalists, “near” Abu Akleh. It is alleged that this armed man fired several shots at one of the military vehicles and a soldier in it returned fire with a rifle equipped with a telescopic sight.
The army’s probe is aimed at this rifle, Scheffler said, although he still believes an accidental Palestinian bullet could kill her.
The military says it cannot respond without comparing the bullet to the weapon. “Without the possibility of examining the bullet, the suspicion remains,” said Major General Ifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the army’s chief prosecutor, in …
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