In a briefing to reporters, a senior military official said a soldier opened fire after mistakenly identifying Shireen Abu Akleh as a fighter. However, he did not provide evidence to support the Israeli claim that Palestinian gunmen were present in the area and said no one would be punished. It also did not mention videos showing the area was quiet before Abu Akleh was shot. The conclusions were the closest Israel has come to claiming responsibility for her death, and followed a series of investigations by media organizations and the United States that concluded Israel either fired, or likely had fired, the fatal shot. But they were unlikely to put the matter to rest. “He misidentified her,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military briefing guidelines. “His real-time reporting … absolutely shows a misidentification.” Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and vest that identified her as a journalist when she was killed in May while covering Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accused the army of conducting whitewashing. “It wasn’t a mistake. It’s politics,” the group said. Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, accused the military of trying to avoid responsibility. “This is clearly an attempt to circumvent the initiation of a criminal investigation,” he told The Associated Press. The 51-year-old Palestinian-American had covered the West Bank for two decades and was a well-known figure throughout the Arab world. The Palestinians and Abu Akleh’s family have accused Israel of deliberately killing her, and her death remains a major point of contention between the sides. The official said the army could not definitively determine where the fire came from, saying there may have been Palestinian gunmen in the same area as the Israeli soldier. But he said the soldier shot the journalist “with a very high probability” and did so accidentally. The official did not explain why testimonies and videos showed no militant activity in the area, as well as gunfire in the area until the barrage that hit Abu Aqleh and wounded another journalist. He also did not say why the investigation took about four months, although he said the Israeli military chief asked for more information after an initial investigation. The official said the investigation had been shared with the independent military prosecutor, who decided not to open a criminal investigation. This means that no one will be accused in the shooting. Abu Akleh’s family criticized the investigation, saying the military “tried to hide the truth and avoid responsibility” for the killing. “Our family is not surprised by this outcome as it is obvious to anyone that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their crimes. However, we remain deeply hurt, disappointed and disappointed,” they said in a statement. The family also reiterated their call for an independent US investigation and an investigation by the International Criminal Court. Rights groups say Israeli investigations into Palestinian shooting deaths often languish for months or years before being quietly closed, and that soldiers are rarely held accountable. Israel said he was killed during a complex battle with Palestinian militants and that only a forensic analysis of the bullet could confirm whether it was fired by an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian fighter. However, a US-led analysis of the bullet last July was inconclusive as investigators said the bullet was severely damaged. An Associated Press reconstruction of her assassination lent support to accounts that she was killed by Israeli forces. Subsequent investigations by CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post reached similar conclusions, as did monitoring by the office of the UN human rights chief. Abu Akleh came to prominence two decades ago during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli rule. It documented the harsh realities of life under Israeli military rule – now in its sixth decade without end – for viewers across the Arab world. Israeli police drew widespread criticism from around the world when they beat mourners and veterans at her funeral in Jerusalem on May 14. An Israeli newspaper reported that a police investigation found wrongdoing by some of its officers, but said those who oversaw the event would not be severely punished. Jenin has long been a stronghold of Palestinian militants, and several recent deadly attacks inside Israel have been carried out by young men from in and around the city. Israel frequently carries out military raids in Jenin, which it says are aimed at arresting militants and preventing more attacks. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and has built settlements where nearly 500,000 Israelis live along with nearly 3 million Palestinians. The Palestinians want the territory to be the main part of a future state. —- Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
