Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

UN concludes Israeli military killed Palestinian journalist, as Israel continues to fight the claim

The United Nations Human Rights Office joins multiple media investigations, and the Palestinian Authority, in making the determination

(JTA) – The United Nations Human Rights Office concluded that a Palestinian-American journalist was killed by Israeli security forces last month, and said Israel’s failure to conduct a criminal investigation into her death was “deeply disturbing.”

In response, the Israel Defense Forces called the UN probe “biased” and reiterated its call for the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bullet that killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in early May.

The UN issued its determination Friday after inspecting photos, video and audio from the scene of the Jenin refugee camp where Abu Akleh was killed (including material from the Israeli military), interviewing eyewitnesses and consulting experts. The office also reconstructed what it said was a timeline of the shooting

“We find that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said. She added that no evidence could corroborate Israel’s claim that armed Palestinian militants had also been firing at the scene and could be responsible for her death. 

The New York Times, Washington Post and Associated Press also conducted separate investigations and determined she was likely killed by Israeli military.

Going a step further than those media outlets, the UN also believed the shots were “seemingly well-aimed bullets” — a significant claim, as Abu Akleh was wearing clothing clearly identifying her as a journalist at the time she was shot. The P.A., Al Jazeera and CNN have all claimed that Abu Akleh was intentionally targeted by Israeli forces. 

The UN’s determination came only a day after 24 Senate Democrats urged President Biden to involve the U.S. in an independent investigation of Abu Akleh’s killing, citing global press freedom concerns and the journalist’s status as an American citizen among their reasoning. Abu Akleh’s brother has also called for the U.S. to be involved in an investigation.

The Senate letter, and several previous letters from U.S. legislators also calling for some form of an investigation, reflected a growing international pressure on Israel to address Abu Akleh’s death, which has ignited further tensions in the region and beyond.

The IDF has so far resisted calls to open a criminal investigation into the matter, and Israel has maintained it cannot conclude its own investigation until the P.A. hands over the bullet. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz have previously rejected out of hand any suggestion that Israeli forces could have intentionally targeted a journalist.

Israel has long claimed that it receives biased treatment at the hands of the UN Human Rights Council, and out of solidarity to Israel the U.S. had resisted joining the council for years until the Obama administration (it then left the council under the Trump administration citing anti-Israel bias).

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.