The Israeli army has not decided who shot the journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, but it has confirmed that “no soldier deliberately shot her.”
In a statement published by the IDF Spokesperson, Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi said: “We regret her death and have been trying to reach the truth by all possible means since the incident.”
He added, “In order to arrive at the truth, there are important indicators on the Palestinian side that we do not have. The Israeli army called for a joint investigation with the Palestinians, which was rejected, and the Israeli army called on the Palestinians to participate in the investigation, where its call was rejected.”
He added: “The Israeli army asked to examine the bullet even jointly, but his invitation was rejected, and he tried to conduct a professional and accurate investigation into the circumstances of the killing of Shireen Abu Aqleh, but the Palestinians refuse to allow that.”
Kohavi continued, “If we had reached the truth, we would have declared it openly, as we would have presented one of the two results: the first is that we were the ones who fired the bullet and we were explicitly declaring it and bearing responsibility, and the second that the bullet was not fired from an Israeli rifle, and therefore the talk about shooting from the Palestinian side killed Shirin Abu sane.”
He called “on the Palestinian side once again to cooperate and allow access to the truth and remove doubts and question marks.”
And he warned that “on the other hand, if we are not able to access all the details, we will not be able to determine absolutely who fired the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh.”
According to Kochavi, “there is a clear conclusion that can be declared openly and without any doubt: No soldier in the Israeli army deliberately fired at journalist Shirin Abu Akleh. This is the conclusion we reached after investigation and examination, and there is no other conclusion.”
Gantz on the line
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz rejected the results of the Palestinian investigation into the killing of journalist Shirin Abu Akleh.
In a statement, Gantz said, “The State of Israel offers its condolences on the death of Shirin Abu Akleh,” adding that “the Israeli army is conducting an ongoing investigation into the matter in order to reveal the truth. Any claim that the Israeli army deliberately harms journalists or Civilians not involved, it is a blatant lie.”
He continued, “The investigations and briefings are not conducted in press conferences, but in closed rooms,” noting that “despite the multiple requests from Israel, the Palestinians refuse to cooperate, which raises the question whether they really want to reveal the truth.”
Gantz called “the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bullet and everything it has found. To this day, we are ready to conduct an investigation in cooperation with international bodies,” adding that “those who believe in themselves are not afraid.”
For the Israeli minister, “unilateral investigations and attempts to charge IDF soldiers with war crimes while promoting false assessments such as those published by CNN undermine the ability to achieve peace and stability in the region, while ultimately promoting terrorism.”
Palestinian accusations
The Israeli statements come in response to a report prepared by the Palestinian Public Prosecution, which concluded that the projectile that hit the head of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh and killed her, is of the armor-piercing type, and has characteristics that can be used with a sniper weapon.
The Palestinian Public Prosecutor, Counselor Akram Al-Khatib, said during a press conference held earlier on Thursday that the detailed report that was prepared on the killing of Abu Aqila confirms that an Israeli army soldier shot Abu Aqila in the head while she was trying to run for cover.
He pointed out that the shooting at journalists “was directly and deliberately.”
On May 11, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in a statement, a copy of which was received by Al-Ain News, that Abu Aqleh was killed by live bullets in the head, and journalist Ali Samoudi was wounded by the Israeli army.
But the Israeli army, for its part, announced at the time that it had opened an investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Aqleh, indicating that she might have been hit by Palestinian fire.