عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

UN Rights Office Says Its Findings Suggest Al Jazeera Journalist Killed by Israeli Forces

Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
TT
20
TT

UN Rights Office Says Its Findings Suggest Al Jazeera Journalist Killed by Israeli Forces

Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)
Slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is depicted in a poster at right, near murals of George Floyd, left, a Black American killed by police in Minneapolis in 2020, and Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, June 19, 2022. (AP)

Information reviewed by the UN human rights office suggests Israeli security forces fired the shot that killed Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in May, not indiscriminate firing from Palestinians, a spokesperson said on Friday.

"It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation," Ravina Shamdasani told a briefing in Geneva.

Israeli and Palestinians officials have exchanged recriminations over the shooting that also led to chaotic scenes at Abu Akleh's funeral when Israeli police officers charged at mourners.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was committed to investigating Abu Akleh's death and called on the Palestinian authorities to share access to the bullet that killed her. The Palestinian Authority has refused to hand over the bullet, saying it does not trust Israel.

"The results of the UN investigation confirm once again what we said from the start, that Israel is responsible for the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and it must be held accountable for this crime," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters.

Shamdasani said the UN rights office had conducted its own "monitoring" of the incident - she declined to use the word investigation - and had gone through photo, video and audio material.

It had also visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses, she said.

"All information we have gathered - including official information from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney-general - 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, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities," she said.

The Palestinian Authority has said its investigation showed that Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier in a "deliberate murder". Its findings lent support to several witnesses, including Palestinian journalists, who said she was killed by Israeli fire. Israel denied the accusation.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"Our findings indicate that no warnings were issued and no shooting was taking place at that time and at that location," Shamdasani said.

"At around 06h 30, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with 'PRESS' markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces," she said.

"One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder, another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly."

In a statement responding to Shamdasani's briefing, the IDF insisted there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.

"Ever since the incident, the IDF has been investigating and reviewing the circumstances of Ms Abu Akleh's death," the statement said.

"The IDF investigation clearly concludes that Ms Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately in her area or inadvertently by an IDF soldier."

In a previous statement, the Israeli military said it identified a soldier's rifle that may have killed Abu Akleh but that it needed to analyze the fatal bullet to be certain.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Israel's Blockade Means Gaza's Hospitals Cannot Provide Food to Recovering Patients

Sobhi al-Bursh, who was injured in a bombing and lost his foot, is fed beans brought from home by his father, Mohamed, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Sobhi al-Bursh, who was injured in a bombing and lost his foot, is fed beans brought from home by his father, Mohamed, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
TT
20
TT

Israel's Blockade Means Gaza's Hospitals Cannot Provide Food to Recovering Patients

Sobhi al-Bursh, who was injured in a bombing and lost his foot, is fed beans brought from home by his father, Mohamed, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Sobhi al-Bursh, who was injured in a bombing and lost his foot, is fed beans brought from home by his father, Mohamed, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

It cost a fortune, she said, but Asmaa Fayez managed to buy a few zucchinis in a Gaza market. She cooked them with rice and brought it to her 4-year-old son, who has been in the hospital for the past week. The soup was his only meal of the day, and he asked for more.

“It’s all finished, darling,” Fayez replied softly. Still, it was an improvement from the canned beans and tuna she brings on other days, she said.

Hospital patients are among the most vulnerable as Palestinians across Gaza struggle to feed themselves, with Israel's blockade on food and other supplies entering the territory now in its third month.

With hospitals unable to provide food, families must bring whatever they can find for loved ones.

“Most, if not all, wounded patients have lost weight, especially in the past two months,” Dr. Khaled Alserr, a general surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, told The Associated Press. Nutritional supplements for intensive care unit patients are lacking, he said.

“Our hands are tied when it comes to making the best choice for patients. Choices are limited,” he said.

Hunger worsens as supplies dwindle

Malnutrition is on the rise across Gaza, aid groups say. Thousands of children have been found with acute malnutrition in the past month, but adults as well are not getting proper nutrients, according to the UN. It estimates that 16,000 pregnant women and new mothers this year face acute malnutrition.

Since Israel’s blockade began on March 2, food sources have been drying up. Aid groups have stopped food distribution. Bakeries have closed. Charity kitchens handing out bowls of pasta or lentils remain the last lifeline for most of the population, but they are rapidly closing for lack of supplies, the UN says.

Markets are empty of almost everything but canned goods and small amounts of vegetables, and prices have been rising. Local production of vegetables has plummeted because Israeli forces have damaged 80% of Gaza's farmlands, the UN says, and much of the rest is inaccessible inside newly declared military zones.

Fayez’s son, Ali al-Dbary, was admitted to Nasser Hospital because of a blocked intestine, suffering from severe cramps and unable to use the bathroom. Fayez believes it’s because he has been eating little but canned goods. She splurged on the zucchini, which now costs around $10 a kilogram (2.2 pounds). Before the war it was less than a dollar.

Doctors said the hospital doesn’t have a functioning scanner to diagnose her son and decide whether he needs surgery.

Israel says it imposed the blockade and resumed its military campaign in March to pressure Hamas to release its remaining hostages and disarm.

Hamas ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage, most of whom have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's offensive has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

Concern over Israeli plans to control aid Israeli officials have asserted that enough food entered Gaza during a two-month ceasefire earlier this year. Rights groups have disputed that and called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.

Now Israeli plans to control aid distribution in Gaza, using private contractors to distribute supplies. The UN and aid groups have rejected the idea, saying it could restrict who is eligible to give and receive aid and could force large numbers of Palestinians to move — which would violate international law.

Those under care at hospitals, and their families who scrounge to feed them, would face further challenges under Israel's proposal. Moving to reach aid could be out of the question.

Another patient at Nasser Hospital, 19-year-old Asmaa Faraj, had shrapnel in her chest from an airstrike that hit close to her tent and a nearby charity kitchen in camps for displaced people outside Khan Younis.

When the AP visited, the only food she had was a small bag of dates, a date cookie and some water bottles. Her sister brought her some pickles.

“People used to bring fruits as a gift when they visited sick people in hospitals,” said the sister, Salwa Faraj. “Today, we have bottles of water.”

She said her sister needs protein, fruits and vegetables but none are available.

Mohammed al-Bursh managed to find a few cans of tuna and beans to bring for his 30-year-old son, Sobhi, who was wounded in an airstrike three months ago. Sobhi’s left foot was amputated, and he has two shattered vertebrae in his neck.

Al-Bursh gently gave his son spoonfuls of beans as he lay still in the hospital bed, a brace on his neck.

“Everything is expensive,” Sobhi al-Bursh said, gritting with pain that he says is constant. He said he limits what he eats to help save his father money.

He believes that his body needs meat to heal. “It has been three months, and nothing heals,” he said.