RAMALLAH, The Palestinian Public Prosecution said last night in a statement that the only source of gunfire at the scene where iconic Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed was the Israeli occupation forces.
The Public Prosecution said that while it was continuing the investigation into “the heinous crime committed by the occupation forces” on Wednesday morning at the western entrance to Jenin refugee camp, which led to the death of Al-Jazeera journalist Abu Akleh, “preliminary investigations concluded that the only source of fire at the scene of the crime was from the occupation forces at the moment Abu Akleh was shot.”
“The investigations indicated that the occupation forces deliberately committed their crime,” it said, adding that crime scene investigation showed that “fresh traces and marks on the tree near which Shireen was hit were a result of direct shooting towards the crime scene, as well as the position of the nearest occupation force was about 150 meters away when Shireen Abu Akleh was shot while wearing a journalist’s uniform and a protective helmet. The shooting in the direction of the location continued until after her injury, which impeded her colleagues and citizens from reaching her to provide first aid.”
The Public Prosecution said that “the results of the initial forensic medical report indicated that the direct cause of death was a laceration of the brain caused by a high-velocity projectile penetrating into the skull cavity through the entrance wound, and then the projectile exited from the cavity through the exit wound and hit after exiting the inner side of the protective helmet and rebounded to settle inside the lacerated tissues inside the skull.”
It said that the projectile was extracted from the head of Abu Akleh and sent to the crime laboratory to prepare a detailed technical report on the matter, adding that the Public Prosecution will announce in a press conference all the final results of its investigations as soon as they are completed.
It stressed that it will continue with all the necessary investigation to document “the crimes of the Israeli occupation, as they are war crimes in the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.”
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency