Middle East

Israeli Army Claims Soldier Mistakenly Killed Al Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh

KILL SHOT

Four months after the incident, an investigation conducted by the Israeli military concluded that Shireen Abu Akleh was probably hit by mistaken crossfire.

GettyImages-1396904208_mzfp9z
Guy Smallman/Getty

A journalist covering raids on the West Bank in May was likely killed by an Israeli soldier, the Israeli army said Monday after concluding its investigation. Initially, the Israeli military claimed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh may have been killed during crossfire of militant groups. However Al Jazeera’s claim that she was shot by Israeli forces while clearly wearing “PRESS” gear was backed up by several independent investigations, including one by the UN and a reconstruction of events by the Associated Press. The Israeli army belatedly launched an investigation which concluded “with very high likelihood” that a soldier struck Akleh—however the soldier did so mistakenly while shooting at Palestinian gunmen.

Read it at Associated Press