UN says Israeli shot dead Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla

• UN’s human rights office says Israeli soldiers killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla.
• The 51-year-old was shot dead while covering an operation in the occupied West Bank.
• Such results have previously been vehemently disputed by Israel as being unprovable

According to the UN’s human rights office, Israeli soldiers, not Palestinian insurgents, are to blame for the shooting death of a prominent Al Jazeera journalist.

According to a spokesman, the conclusions came from “independent monitoring” of the incident on May 11.

There was a great deal of outrage when Shireen Abu Aqla was killed while covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has been blamed by the Palestinians. Israel claims it is too early to assign culpability.

When the 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist, one of the most seasoned and esteemed correspondents in the area, was assassinated, there was worldwide indignation.

Abu Aqla was shot at the scene of a shootout between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists while wearing a helmet and a safety vest with the word “Press” on it.

Following a string of violent attacks by Palestinians on Israelis, two of whom were from the Jenin neighbourhood, the Israeli military claimed its forces had entered Jenin to capture “terrorist suspects.”

Israeli forces allegedly fired the fatal shot, according to eyewitnesses, however Israel rejects this. It claims that because the Palestinians refused to allow it to study the bullet that killed Abu Aqla or conduct a joint inquiry, it has not yet been possible to determine the origin of the gunfire.

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OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva on Friday that the department had discovered that “the shots that killed Abu Aqla and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli security forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities.”

She continued, “It is really troubling that Israeli authorities have not opened a criminal inquiry.”

According to Ms. Shamdasani, the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney general provided the information.

Four journalists were turning onto a street when, according to her, “several single, obviously well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli security forces” on the morning of the incident.

Ali Sammoudi was shot once in the shoulder, while Abu Aqla was shot once in the skull, instantly killing her.

Such results have previously been vehemently disputed by Israel as being unprovable. It claims that because the Palestinians have refused to cooperate, it is impossible to tell whether the fatal shot was fired by its soldiers or by Palestinian militants.

The Israeli army is conducting its own inquiry.

Israel claims to have located the weapon used by a soldier who may have fired the shot, but without examination of the bullet, it cannot be confirmed. According to the Palestinians, they won’t give it up because they don’t trust the Israelis.

According to Ms. Shamdasani, the OHCHR “found no information showing that there was action by armed Palestinians in the close vicinity of the journalists.”

A Palestinian investigation last month came to the conclusion that an Israeli soldier killed Abu Aqla on purpose.

The report was dismissed by the Israeli defence minister, who called it “a flagrant fabrication.”

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