Gunfire From IDF Positions 'Likely' Killed Al Jazeera Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, US Says

The 51-year-old Al Jazeera journalist was fatally shot in the head on May 11 while covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank. Reporters at the scene said they were targeted by Israeli snipers when the group was alone in the streets of Jenin, and that they were clearly identifiable as being members of the press.

Gunfire from Israeli positions was "likely responsible for the death" of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, US officials have concluded after examining the bullet, which they received from Palestinian authorities in order to conduct an "independent" ballistic examination.

The United States "found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad," State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday.

Price said that the ballistic examination was inconclusive due to the fact that the bullet was badly damaged.

Secretary-General of the PLO's Executive Committee Hussein al-Sheikh has slammed the US findings, saying, “We will not allow attempts to hide the truth or any hesitant insinuations regarding Israel's guilt on the matter.”

"The occupation government is responsible for the assassination of Sheerin Abu Akleh. We will complete our proceedings before the international courts," al-Sheikh added.

The Israeli side insists that an IDF investigation "conclusively determined" that no IDF soldier deliberately fired at Abu Akleh, but the source of the fire that led to her death could not be determined based on the available information. Chief of the General Staff LTG Aviv Kohavi has ordered to continue the investigation "while using all available means, committed to transparency and seeking out the truth."

The IDF previously claimed it would take responsibility for Abu Akleh's death if the test results "show we killed her."

"If we can’t make a determination then there won’t be a determination. If it can be determined that she was killed by armed Palestinians, then the Palestinians will be responsible,” military spokesman Brigadier-General Ran Kochav said over the weekend.

Shireen Abu Akleh, an American-Palestinian journalist, was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank on May 11. Reporters and witnesses at the scene said that the IDF was responsible for her death, and that there were no Palestinian militants in the vicinity when she was killed.