Israel will not conduct criminal probe into killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, reports suggest

Israel will not launch a criminal investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh earlier this month, according to Israeli media reports.

The veteran Al Jazeera journalist was shot dead on 11 May while she was reporting on an Israeli military raid at Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. She was wearing a helmet and jacket clearly marked “press” at the time.

Her colleagues and other witnesses said she was killed by an Israeli soldier. They added that there was no shooting from Palestinian gunmen in the vicinity, contradicting statements made by Israeli authorities after her death.

Israel denied Abu Akleh was killed by one of its soldiers but agreed to open an inquiry into what happened, though has not admitted any responsibility. It said Israeli soldiers came under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they fired back.

However, Israel’s Military Police Criminal Investigation Division has decided not to pursue a criminal inquiry because of the likely opposition within Israeli society, Haaretz reported.

The victim’s family said they were not surprised by the decision.

“We were expecting this from the Israeli side. That’s why we didn’t want them to participate in the investigation,” they told Al Jazeera, explaining that they wanted to see justice.

“We urge the United States in particular – since she is a US citizen – and the international community to open a just and transparent investigation and to put an end to the killings,” they added.

The statement comes as an Israeli military official said the army had found a soldier’s weapon “that might be involved in the fire exchange near Shireen”.

The official called on the Palestinians to release the bullet so that Israel will “hopefully be able to compare the bullet to that barrel and check if there is a match”.

However, the Palestinian Authority is unlikely to agree to the request, as it believes Israel has a long record of not investigating Palestinian deaths properly.

Last week, the Palestinian public prosecutor claimed the initial findings of their investigation indicated that Abu Akleh was killed by deliberate Israeli fire.

This assessment was supported by independent research from the open-source investigation company Bellingcat.

Israel was also widely criticised for its police’s use of violence to disperse people who had gathered for Abu Akleh’s funeral in East Jerusalem last Friday. As they charged at the crowd, those carrying her coffin almost dropped it.

Her body was being brought from the town of Jenin to Jerusalem via Nablus and Ramallah, in a procession ahead of her funeral in the Old City of East Jerusalem.

But as mourners, many carrying Palestinian flags, transported the casket of the Palestinian-American journalist from the St Louis French Hospital in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, they were attacked by Israeli security forces.

Footage shared by media networks and online showed armoured Israeli officers descend on those moving the casket with batons, before beating and kicking a number of the mourners. There were also reports of stun grenades being used.

Thousands of people attended the funeral.

The police said their actions were provoked by people among the mourners disrupting public order and throwing stones.

Abu Akleh was a 25-year veteran of Al Jazeera, the Qatari-headquartered broadcaster. She was a household name across the Arab world, known for documenting the hardship of Palestinian life under Israeli rule, now in its sixth decade.

In a statement, the broadcaster called on the international community to “condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh”.

Its managing director, Ahmad Alyafei, travelled to Jerusalem to attend the funeral.

In a sign that the killing, and its aftermath, has become an international incident, Qatar’s assistant foreign minister, Lolwah al-Khater, tweeted footage of the attacks on the mourners.

The shooting and scenes at the funeral drew condemnation and statements of concern from around the world.

This article was amended on 24 May 2022 to include the Israeli police’s position that officers’ actions at the funeral followed provocation from individuals among the mourners.