Israel's military has claimed that an internal investigation has found that no Israeli soldier deliberately fired the shot that killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The claim – which contradicts eyewitness accounts, a probe by the Palestinian Authority, and journalistic investigations – was made in a video statement posted by the Israeli military to Twitter on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
"No IDF soldier deliberately fired at a journalist. We investigated this. That is the conclusion, and there is no other," Israeli military chief Aviv Kochavi said in the statement.<\/p>\n
Abu Akleh was shot dead on 11 May while reporting on an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
Israel's military and leaders initially claimed that Abu Akleh, a veteran reporter for Al Jazeera, was killed by Palestinian gunmen. They soon backtracked on that claim, instead saying that they could not conclusively determine whose gunfire killed the veteran US-Palestinian journalist.
\nShortly after the killing, Israel had asked for the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bullet removed from Abu Akleh's body to conduct a forensic examination. <\/p>\n
The PA denied Israel's request for the bullet, saying it did not trust Israel would conduct a fair investigation after it had spread "false narratives" over Abu Akleh's killing.<\/p>\n
Israel also offered that Palestinian and US officials could be present during the examination.<\/p>\n
However, this week, State Department spokesman Ned Price said he was “not aware of any request for assistance” from either side. And when asked during a press briefing Wednesday — two weeks after Abu Akleh’s death — if the US had been asked to participate or act as an observer, he stood by his previous answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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