A US senator has disputed IDF claims that veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by accident by Israeli troops and called for an independent US investigation.
Nearly four months after she was killed, the military said there was a “high probability” an Israeli soldier accidentally killed her nearly four months ago, based on its investigation into the incident.
The crux of the “defense” in this IDF report is that a soldier was “returning fire” from militants. But investigations by @NYTimes, @AP, @CNN, @washingtonpost & @UN found no such firing at the time,” tweeted Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator for Maryland.
“This underscores need for independent US inquiry into this American journalist’s death,” says Van Hollen.
Abu Akleh was also a US citizen.
The 51-year-old Palestinian-American journalist, who was wearing a vest marked “Press” and a helmet, was killed during clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen while covering an Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on May 11.
The Israel Defense Forces initially blamed Palestinian gunmen for the shooting, but later acknowledged that Abu Akleh could also have been killed by Israeli soldiers.
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