Journalist Shirin Abu Aqila was killed not by Palestinian militants but by Israel

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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Al Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Aqila was killed by Israeli forces, not by Palestinian militants.

On May 11, Shereen Abu Aqila, a reporter for Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel, was shot in the head in West Jordan, killing her.

A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday that the investigation into Shirin's death had been carried out through "independent monitoring".

After the incident, Al Jazeera accused the Israeli army of killing the lions. Israel was also accused by the Palestinians, but Israel said the charges could not be determined.


Lajzira said Shirin Abu Aqila, 51, had been "deliberately shot" by Israeli troops. Al Jazeera's producer was also shot and wounded.

Al Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Aqila arrived in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday to cover the Israeli operation. According to Al Jazeera, Shirin died shortly after the shooting. A Palestinian journalist was also reported injured.

Abu Aqila, 51, was born in Jerusalem and started working for Al Jazeera in 1997. He studied journalism at Yarmouk University in Jordan. She reported from all over the Palestinian territories. She reported on Israeli attacks on Gaza in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021.


Her death sparked public outrage.

Abu Aqila was wearing a protective jacket with the word "press" written on it in fake letters. He was also wearing a helmet. When she was shot, she was on a highway near which there was an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said its forces had gone to the Jenin district to capture "alleged terrorists" after a series of tragic attacks by Palestinians against Israelis. He said two of the attackers were from Jenin district.


Jenin has refugee camps and has long been considered a stronghold of extremists.

Eyewitnesses say Israeli soldiers opened fire, which proved fatal. Although Israel disagrees. He says the source of the gunfire is not yet known because the Palestinians have rejected his request for a bullet review. He also rejected the idea of a joint investigation.


Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, Rowena Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCHR), said the agency had learned that "the bullets that killed Abu Aqila and his colleague Ali Samudi Injured, she came from Israeli security forces and did not fire indiscriminately from armed Palestinians, as previously claimed by Israeli officials.

An OHCR spokesman said it was "disturbing" that Israeli authorities had not carried out a criminal investigation.

He says the information was provided by the Israeli army and the Palestinian attorney general.


Rowena Shamdasani said that on the morning of the incident, four journalists came to the street, many of whom were fired upon by Israeli forces, apparently with one purpose.

"One bullet hit Ali Samudi and the other Abu Aqila and she died instantly."

Israel, on the other hand, has denied the allegations from the outset and is investigating.


Israel has said it has identified the soldier's weapon, which may have been a bullet, but it does not believe it without reviewing the bullet.

However, Palestine says it will not hand over the bullet to Israel because it does not trust it.

Rowena Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the OHCHR had "received no information indicating that armed Palestinians had carried out the operation where the journalists were present."


An investigation by the Palestinians last month found that Abu Aqila had been deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces.

Al Jazeera has accused the Israeli army of killing Shirin. The news channel has called on the international community to condemn the Israeli army for "deliberately killing" its reporter Shirin.


At the time, the Israeli prime minister had said, "It is possible that he was shot by Palestinian gunmen during the exchange of fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has defended the death of Al Jazeera journalist Shirin Abu Aqila in a military operation in the eastern part of West Jordan.

Prime Minister Bennett has offered to set up a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation team. He said the Israeli military operation in the city of Jenin was in response to shelling by Palestinian militants.


Prime Minister Bennett tweeted one after another to explain himself.

"The head of the Palestinian Authority keeps accusing Israel without any concrete evidence," he wrote in a tweet. According to the data we have, there is a strong possibility that the Al Jazeera journalist was killed as a result of indiscriminate shelling by armed Palestinian militants.

In another tweet, he wrote, "Israel has offered a joint pathological analysis and joint investigation with Palestine to find out the truth about the journalist's death, but Palestine still refuses to do so."


Israel took control of the West Bank after the 1967 war, and Palestine wants to make it an important part of its independent state in the future.

About 3 million Palestinians live in the area under Israeli military supervision. Israel has settled more than 130 settlements in West Jordan, home to more than half a million Jews.

Israel has long criticized Al Jazeera's coverage, but Israel generally does not bar the channel's journalists from reporting.

Another Al Jazeera reporter was detained during a demonstration in Jerusalem last year. The channel said the reporter's arm was broken in custody.


Relations between the Israeli military and the media, especially Palestinian journalists, have always been strained. Earlier in 2018, a journalist who was covering violent protests in Gaza was allegedly shot dead by Israeli security forces.

Earlier, in May last year, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza. The building housed the offices of several foreign news channels.