United Nations Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani has told the media that the information they gathered showed that Israeli gunfire killed the Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Similarly, her colleague Ali al-Sammoudi was also injured by the same bullets. Israeli forces killed Abu Akleh on 11 May 2022 when she was covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank. The incident led to widespread outrage with global condemnation against Israeli forces.
Multiple witness reports have suggested Israel was behind the killing of the veteran journalist. Independent investigation by media agencies also came to the same conclusion. Now UN has also confirmed it.
Shireen Abu Akleh Was Exactly Were Israel Wanted Her to Be
As per the UN investigation, Shireen Abu Akleh and her press team planned to remain visible to the Israeli forces as they proceeded to film. They chose to walk on the side street to avoid the camp of Palestinian rebels. It made it easy for Israeli forces to keep them in thier sights at all times as they progressed with filming.
At that time, nobody issued any warning or started to fire. However, several well-aimed single bullets were suddenly fired at the press members from the direction of Israeli forces. The firing continued at some unarmed men who tried to save Abu Akleh and her colleague. UN investigation also found no offensive activity from the Palestinian side at the time of Abu Akleh’s killing.
Investigation at International Criminal Court (ICC)
UN kept urging Israel to open a criminal investigation into the case, but Prime Minister Neftali Bennet completely denied that Israeli soldiers could have killed Abu Akleh. He stressed that Palestinians killed her, which did not make sense as she was the hero for Palestinians who showed thier story to the entire world.
Later, Israel also admitted that it could not rule out the possibility that an Israeli troop had fired a shot that killed the reporter. However, the country neither produced the culprit nor shared the details of the internal investigation.
Al Jazeera Network has reportedly assigned a legal team about the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The case will look into the latest killing as well as other cases involving the targetting of all journalists investigating the context of military operations in the occupied West Bank.
Wasn’t it Already Clear?
The latest statement from the UN answers the question of who killed Shireen Abu Akleh between Israel and Palestine. Although Israel’s involvement was clear from the very beginning, it took the UN’s final investigation to make it official. It can also be seen from the viral video of Abu Akleh’s funeral, which was desecrated by rampant Israeli forces. They attacked the procession and caused the mourners to nearly drop the casket containing the departed soul.
