The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted for the first time on Monday, 5 September, that there is a "high possibility" that a bullet from the Israeli side killed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in may earlier this year.
"It appears that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms Abu Akleh. However, there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire," the IDF said in a statement.
"When they were firing in that direction, the soldiers were not aware they were firing at journalists. They thought they were firing at militants firing at them (armed Palestinian militants)," a senior IDF official said.
"The soldier is sorry, and I am sorry. This was not supposed to happen and it should not happen. He did not do this on purpose," the official added without naming the soldier, as reported by CNN.
The United Nations had already stated weeks ago that according to the information that it had collected, the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on 11 May was fired by the Israeli forces.
"All information we have gathered … is consistent with the finding that 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," UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in late June.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist covered the Gaza wars of 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021, and she even reported on the jailbreak of six Palestinians who escaped in September 2021 from one of the Israel's most secure jails via a tunnel, overnight.
She even reported on major events across the Arab region, including the war in Lebanon in 2006.
At the time of her killing, according to Al Jazeera, she had been studying and trying to learn Hebrew to better understand the narratives of the Palestine conflict in the Israeli media. She had also recently obtained a diploma in digital media.
(With inputs from Reuters and CNN.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)