Palestine hands bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh over to US team
The Israeli bullet, which took Al Jazeera Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh's life, has been handed over to the US team for investigation.
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The bullet that killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was handed to the US team.
The Palestinian Authority said on Saturday it handed over the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to American forensic experts.
The declaration comes just over a week before President Joe Biden travels to occupied Palestine.
On May 11, Abu Akleh, a senior correspondent known throughout the Arab world, was murdered in cold blood while covering an Israeli occupation invasion into Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
According to Palestinians and Abu Akleh's colleagues who were with her at the time, she was murdered by Israeli fire.
The Palestinians refused to hand the bullet to "Israel" out of fear that the Israeli occupation would tamper with the bullet and hide the truth.
Read next: Forensic analysis: “Israel” deliberately killed Shireen Abu Akleh
However, the bullet was delivered to US experts "for technical work," according to Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al-Khateeb.
He reiterated the Palestinian refusal to share the bullet with "Israel", but added that the Palestinians welcome any foreign bodies that can "help us corroborate the facts." "We are confident and certain of our investigations and the results we have reached," he said.
It was unclear what the American experts might learn without additionally analyzing the Israeli weapon. It was also unclear whether "Israel" would give firearms to the Americans.
The Israeli military declined to comment, while the Office of Palestinian Affairs at the US Embassy claimed it had "no new information to offer."
According to a Palestinian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing a diplomatic matter, the issue was raised in a phone call between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and both sides hope to resolve it before Biden's arrival on July 13.
Read next: UN: IOF fired shots that killed Abu Akleh
Abu Akleh, 51, was a well-known and respected on-air correspondent who rose to prominence during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against the Israeli occupation two decades ago.
She used her voice to stand in the face of the brutal realities of life under Israeli occupation, which is now in its sixth decade.
When Israeli police beat mourners and pallbearers during her funeral in occupied Al-Quds on May 14, they garnered considerable condemnation from throughout the world.
Watch | The Israeli occupation brutally assaults the crowds at #ShireenAbuAkleh's funeral.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/TKTfwgLBLk
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 13, 2022
Earlier, around half of the Democrat Senators in the US Congress are calling for Washington to be directly involved in the investigation into last month's murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied West Bank.
"We believe that, as a leader in the effort to protect the freedom of the press and the safety of journalists, and given the fact that Ms. Abu Akleh was an American citizen, the US government has an obligation to ensure that a comprehensive, impartial, and open investigation into her shooting death is conducted - one in which all parties can have full confidence in the ultimate findings," the letter to US President Joe Biden read.
"Israel" behind the killing of Shireen
"Israel" has been held responsible for the murder of Abu Akleh by different analyses and investigations, despite the Israeli attempts to point fingers at Palestinian resistance members.
Yousef Jamal Al-Rantisi, a forensic expert and manager of the Gaza Center for Human Rights, released a forensic analysis of the evidence related to Abu Akleh's murder, which concludes that she was deliberately shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces.
Moreover, The Washington Post examined more than 60 videos, social media posts, and photos of the murder, conducted physical inspections of the area, and also commissioned two independent acoustic analyses of the gunshots.
The review, the paper says, concludes that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli soldier in the convoy that was near them. Although the IOF claims that their fire was directed toward a Palestinian gunman standing between them and the journalists, the journalists who were with Shireen on that fateful day say there were no gunmen there.
In the same context, a month-long investigation by The New York Times found that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh was fired from the approximate location of the Israeli military convoy, most likely by a soldier from an elite unit.
The evidence reviewed by The Times showed that there were no Palestinian resistance fighters near her when she was shot, which contradicted Israeli claims that, if a soldier had mistakenly killed her, it was because he had been shooting at a Palestinian gunman.
The Times investigation also showed that 16 shots were fired from the location of the Israeli convoy, as opposed to Israeli claims that the soldier had fired five bullets in the journalists’ direction.
Even information gathered by the United Nations showed that the bullets that killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh were fired from the barrel of an Israeli gun, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Friday.
"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," OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.
A report published in CNN provides evidence and testimonies regarding the death of slain Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was assassinated by an Israeli sniper earlier this month. The report concluded that "Israel" purposely murdered Shireen Abu Akleh.
The report starts off with a descriptive narration of the moment Abu Akleh was murdered, when her colleague, Shatha Hanaysha, watched the veteran journalist drop to motionlessness, unable to comprehend the magnitude of the situation before her. Both were wearing Press vests, yet were nonetheless attacked. Although a man tried to come to aid, he was deterred back by gunfire.
