CNN, AP confirm Shireen Abu Akleh killed by Israeli forces

Major media outlets CNN and AP have confirmed in two separate reports that Al Jazeera’s Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli occupation forces. CNN has even suggested that she was targeted deliberately.

According to CNN, an investigation is carried out into the incident “offers new evidence — including two videos of the scene of the shooting — that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death.”

It said that videos obtained by CNN, “corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.”

Abu Akleh, an American citizen who worked with Al Jazeera for more than two decades, was covering an Israeli occupation raid into Jenin refugee camp on 11 May when she was killed. A colleague, Ali Samudi, was injured, also after being shot by Israeli soldiers.

READ: Shireen Abu Akleh’s family seeks international probe into her murder

Associated Press, meanwhile, said that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh came from an Israeli gun. “Almost two weeks after the death of the veteran Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera, a reconstruction by the Associated Press lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akleh’s colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun.”

AP noted that multiple videos and photos taken on the morning of 11 May show an Israeli convoy parked just up a narrow road from Abu Akleh, with a clear line of sight. They show the reporters and other bystanders in real time taking cover from bullets fired from the direction of the convoy.

The only confirmed presence of Palestinian militants was on the other side of the convoy, some 300 metres away, mostly separated from Abu Akleh by buildings and walls. Israel claims that at least one militant was between the convoy and the journalists, but it has not provided any evidence or indicated the shooter’s location to support its claim.

Israel shoots dead Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, during invasion of Jenin – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]