According to AFP, the Palestinian prosecutor said that the Palestinian Authority had handed the American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Ab Akleh's bullet, which killed her, over to them for expertise.
Prosecutor Akram al-Khatib stated that the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, while covering an Israeli military operation at Jenin in the occupied West Bank had been transferred to the United States. The United States will then evaluate it. He said that the Palestinians had promised to return the bullet to him.
According to sources from Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based, the US Embassy will conduct the expertise in Jerusalem.
According to the Palestinian prosecutor it was a 5.56mm caliber bullet that was fired from a Ruger Mini-14 semiautomatic rifle. These developments are less than two weeks ahead of US President Joe Biden's visit in Israel and the West Bank by a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle. This is his first Middle East tour since joining the White House.
The Palestinian Authority, Al Jazeera, and Qatar, which funded Al Jazeera immediately after her death, accused Israel of murdering the journalist from Palestine, who also has American citizenship.
On June 24, the UN High Commission for Human Rights concluded, "The journalist was killed by Israeli fire."
According to the Israeli army, it is impossible to determine if (the journalist) was shot by a Palestinian gunman in the same area as she was or accidentally by an Israeli soldier.
She also repeated her request to the Palestinian Authority for the fatal bullet. This is the only way, according to the Israeli military, to determine who fired. The Palestinians refused to give her the fatal bullet and asked instead for the Israelis' surrender of the suspect weapon.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, stated that all the information we have gathered, including the Israeli army and the Palestinian attorney General, supports the fact that the shots which killed Ms. Abu Akleh as well as her colleague Ali Sammoudi were fired by Israeli forces and not indiscriminate fire of armed Palestinians like initially claimed by Israeli authorities.
Ravina Shamdasani stated that "we found no evidence to suggest that there were any activities by armed Palestinians near journalists". She also said that it was "deeply concerning that the Israeli authorities didn't open an investigation". Israel dismissed the UN charges. Defense Minister Benny Gantz claimed that it was a baseless investigation.
In recent weeks, however, journalistic investigations also pointed to the Israeli army. When she was struck by a bullet, the journalist was wearing a bulletproof vest that had the word "press" printed on it. She also had a hard hat.
She was at the Jenin refugee Camp's outskirts, where she saw armed Palestinian factions. Israeli forces were conducting a raid to find suspects in the aftermath of deadly attacks in Israel.
