UN: Findings suggest Israeli bullets killed Al Jazeera journalist

The bullets that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh were fired from the Israeli side, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“All information we have gathered...is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh 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,” the OHCHR said in a statement on Friday.

“We have found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists,” it said, adding that it was “deeply disturbing” that the Israeli authorities were yet to conduct a criminal investigation into the matter.

Soon after, the Israeli army accused the UN probe of being biased, citing Palestinians' rejection to hand the bullet that killed Akleh to Israel.

In a statement, the Israeli army insisted on the narrative of an exchange of fire with Palestinians — which it claimed led to Akleh's death.

On May 11, Abu Akleh, 51, was covering an Israeli military raid near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when she was shot dead. Palestinian officials and her employer, Al Jazeera, said she was killed by Israeli forces.

Israel denied any responsibility and called for a joint investigation with Palestinians, a move rejected by the authorities in Palestine.

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