United Nations says Al Jazeera journalist killed by Israeli fire

Shots were not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, says Human Rights Office spokesperson

The United Nations (U.N.) said on Friday that its findings showed that the shot that killed Al Jazeera TV journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11 was fired by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian-American journalist, who was wearing a vest marked “Press” and a helmet, was killed on May 11 while covering an Israeli Army operation in Jenin camp in the northern West Bank.

“We find that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces,” U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

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“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. 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 said.

She added that the information came from the Israeli military and the Palestinian Attorney General.

“We have found no information suggesting that there was activity by armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of the journalists,” Ms. Shamdasani said.