UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Reconstruction of Reporter’s Killing Points to Israeli Shooter as Most Likely Source of Fatal Gunshot: AP

The Associated Press sent reporters to the site of Shireen Abu Akleh’s shooting in search of an answer.

Two weeks after the death of veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, a reconstruction by the Associated Press “lends support” to claims that she was killed by a shot fired from an Israeli weapon. Responsibility for the Palestinian-American journalist’s fatal shooting has been contested by Israel. But after visiting the site of Abu Akleh’s killing at the edge of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, reporters from the Associated Press say evidence supports claims from Palestinian authorities that Israeli soldiers fired the fatal bullet. Interviews with five Palestinian eyewitnesses to the shooting corroborated a previous report from research group Bellingcat that concluded that Israeli forces were closer to Abu Akleh and had a clearer line of sight than Palestinian militants some 300 yards away when Abu Akleh was struck in the head by a bullet. Conclusive answers as to who fired the deadly shot are unlikely to come soon thanks to a deep and mutual distrust between Palestinian and Israeli authorities—each of which exclusively holds potentially critical forensic evidence.