A statement released by State Department spokesman Ned Price said “detailed forensic analysis, independent, third-party examiners … were unable to reach a definitive conclusion as to the origin of the bullet,” which was badly damaged. US investigators were given “full access” to both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations and “concluded that gunfire from IDF positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu [Aqleh]”. A well-known figure in the Arab world, Abu Aqleh, 51, was shot in the head in the West Bank city of Jenin in May during what her colleagues at the scene said was a burst of Israeli fire on a group of journalists covering an IDF raid. Abu Aqleh was wearing a helmet and a protective vest marked “press”. US investigators, Price said in the statement, “found no reason to believe this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against Palestinian Islamic Jihad factions on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel.” Last month, a UN investigation found that Israeli forces had fired at Abu Aqleh with what it said were “several isolated, apparently well-aimed bullets”. UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said they found “no information to suggest there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists”. Responding to the US announcement, Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), accused Washington of protecting Israel. “The truth is clear, but the US administration continues to delay in announcing it,” Abu Youssef said. “We say Israel killed Shireen Abu Aqleh and must be held accountable for the crime it committed.” The Palestinian Authority rejected Israeli proposals for a joint investigation under US supervision, saying it did not trust Israel and that its military had deliberately targeted Abu Aqleh. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST This weekend, however, Palestinian officials claimed they had been misled after they handed the bullet over to a US security coordinator for examination, who in turn gave it to an Israeli forensics team. Israel initially blamed the journalist’s death on Palestinian militants, but has since acknowledged that an IDF soldier may have killed her “accidentally”. No criminal investigation has been launched. Army records released under Israel’s Freedom of Information Act and analyzed by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, show that Israeli soldiers enjoy near-total impunity from prosecution in cases where Palestinians are harmed. Footage of Israeli police storming Abu Aqleh’s funeral procession in Jerusalem, causing mourners to almost throw over her coffin, has raised the ire of Palestinians and the international community.
