Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh killed by Israeli fire, says UN; calls for criminal inquiry

Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 while she was on assignment to cover Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank.​​​
Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh | Photo: IRCIC

New Delhi: The Union Nations (UN) on Friday said that its findings showed that Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in firing by the Israeli forces on May 11.
Abu Akleh, a correspondent of Al-Jazeera, was killed while she was on assignment to cover Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank. She was wearing a vest marked “Press” and a helmet when she was killed during clashes between IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen while covering an Israeli army operation in Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank.
“We find that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. “It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation.”
“We at the UN Human Rights Office have concluded our independent monitoring into the incident,” Shamdasani said. “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,” she added.
She said that the information reviewed came from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney general.
Meanwhile, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has urged Israel to open a criminal investigation into the journalist's killing and into all other killings by Israeli forces in the West Bank and in the context of law enforcement operations in Gaza.
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