iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Iranian TV says 41 people killed in more than a week of unrest after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by morality police
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Israel says Al Jazeera reporter was likely killed unintentionally by its forces
No criminal probe will be launched into the incident, says military official
Photo: Reuters
The Israeli army said on Monday there was a “high possibility” that a soldier killed a well-known Al Jazeera journalist in May.
A senior military official said the military’s top legal officer will not be launching a criminal probe into the incident, meaning neither the soldier nor anyone in his chain of command will face punishment.
Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in May while covering Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians blamed Israel for the killing. Israel initially said she may have been killed by militant fire, but later said a soldier may have hit her by mistake during an exchange of fire.
Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist, had covered the West Bank for the satellite channel for two decades and was well known across the Arab world.
In a briefing to reporters, the official said the military could not conclusively determine where the fire emanated from, saying there may have been Palestinian gunmen in the same area as the Israeli soldier. But he said the soldier killed the journalist “with very high likelihood” and did so by mistake. The official did not explain why witness accounts and videos showed limited militant activity in the area, as well as no gunfire in the vicinity until the barrage that struck Abu Akleh and wounded another reporter.
“He misidentified her. His reports in real time point to a misidentification,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military briefing guidelines.
The results of the probe, announced nearly four months after the killing, largely align with those of several independent investigations completed much earlier.
There was no immediate reaction from Palestinian officials, Al Jazeera or her family.
ALSO READ:
More news from World
Truss, who became prime minister earlier this month, has taken a hard line against Russia and China
Hundred officers, 30 fire engines battle blaze at Rungis International Market
'It is better to refuse a conscription letter than to die as a war criminal in a foreign land,' he said in his evening address on Saturday
City councilors expected to vote on a proposal to name the musician as a persona non grata
Tehran's charge d'affaires summoned and told about supply of weapons to Russia
Servicemen who desert or refuse to fight can face up to 10 years imprisonment
This comes a year after Biden announced the end of American military presence in the country and the Taliban took over in Kabul