An independent investigation reveals the evidence: Shirin Abu Aqleh was killed in a deliberate attack by the Israeli forces

An investigation conducted by CNN, the American news network, which relied on new video clips, audio analysis, and a review of the scene by firearms experts, concluded that Israeli forces killed Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and that this was intentionally.
While the clips circulated in the media do not show the shooting of Abu Aqila directly, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe that Israeli forces on the same street deliberately fired at the journalists in a targeted attack, noting that all the journalists were wearing blue protective vests that distinguish their work.
The journalist, Shatha Hanaysha, a colleague of Abu Aqila, who was with her when the accident occurred, said: “We stood in front of the Israeli military vehicles for about 5 to 10 minutes before moving to make sure we were seen, and this is a habit for us as journalists, we move as a group and stand in front of them so they know we are journalists, and then We start moving.”
On the day of the shooting, Israeli military spokesman Ran Kochav told Army Radio that Abu Aqleh was “filming and working for a media outlet among armed Palestinians. They are armed with cameras, if you let me,” according to The Times of Israel.
The Israeli army insists that it is not clear who fired the fatal bullet, and said that a preliminary investigation indicates that the journalist was likely injured either by random Palestinian fire or by an Israeli sniper stationed about 200 meters away in an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen. However, neither Israel nor any party provided proof that Palestinian militants were within the line of fire in which Abu Aqila was hit.
But the CNN investigation provided new evidence – including two videos of the scene of the shooting – that there was no active fighting (clashes between Israeli forces and fighters), nor any Palestinian militants at all, near Abu Aqila in The moments before her murder.
Video clips obtained by the network, supported by the testimony of eight eyewitnesses, an audio analyst and an explosive weapons expert, indicate that Abu Aqila’s death occurred through a “targeted attack” by Israeli forces.
The footage shows a calm before journalists come under fire in the outskirts of Jenin. Hanisha, four other journalists, and three local residents said it was a normal morning in the camp, with many residents on their way to work or school, and the street was relatively quiet.
The network says: “There was a sense of excitement when the veteran journalist arrived to report the Israeli incursion into the camp. About ten men, some wearing sweaty clothes and slippers, gathered to watch Abu Oqla and her colleagues, chatting or some smoking cigarettes, and others filming the scene on their phones.”

In a 16-minute video clip on a mobile phone, the man filming walks toward the place where the journalists have gathered, approaches the distance of parked Israeli armored vehicles in the distance, and says, “Look at the snipers.” Then, when a teenager looks at the street hesitantly, he shouts: “Don’t be kidding…Do you think it’s a joke? We don’t want to die, we want to live.”
Salem Awad, 27, a resident of Jenin refugee camp, who filmed the video, said that there were no Palestinian gunmen or any clashes in the area, and he did not expect shooting, given the presence of journalists nearby.
But the situation quickly changed. Awad said that gunfire broke out about seven minutes after he arrived at the scene. His video captures the moment the four journalists – Abu Aqila, Hunaisheh, Palestinian journalist Mujahid Al-Saadi, and Al-Jazeera producer Ali Al-Samudi, who was shot – were shot as they walked towards Israeli forces.
In the video, Abu Aqleh can be seen turning away from the shooting, and the footage shows a direct line of sight towards the Israeli forces.
The network reviewed a total of 11 video clips showing the scene and the Israeli military convoy from different angles – before, during and after the killing of Abu Akleh. The eyewitnesses who were filming the journalist at the time of the shooting were also in the crossfire and retreated when the shooting started, so they did not capture the moment she was hit by the bullet.

The visual evidence reviewed by CNN includes a body camera video released by the Israeli military, which shows soldiers running through a narrow alley, armed with M16 assault rifles, as they drive out into the street where the armored vehicles are standing.
Even without accessing the bullet that hit Abu Aqila, there are ways to determine who killed her by analyzing the type of shooting, the sound of the shots, and the marks left by the bullets at the scene.
Cobb Smith, a security advisor and British Army veteran, told the network he believed Abu Aqila was killed by separate shots – not machine gunfire. To come to this conclusion, take a look at the footage obtained by the network, which shows the marks of bullets remaining on the tree next to which the journalist fell.
Cobb said the number of hit marks on the tree next to which Shireen was standing proves that this was not a random shot, and that it was “targeted,” adding that, in sharp contrast, the majority of the shooting from Palestinians caught on camera today was from “random machine guns.”
As evidence, he referred to two videos showing Palestinian gunmen shooting indiscriminately in alleys in different areas of Jenin, which were published by the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, with an audio commentary in Arabic saying: “They wounded one. They wounded a soldier, who is lying on the ground.” .
Because the May 11 killing of Israeli soldiers was not reported, Bennett’s office said the video indicated that “Palestinian terrorists shot the journalist.”
CNN identified the videos shared by Bennett’s geography office south of the camp, more than 300 meters from the site of the fall of Abu Akleh, and the coordinates of the two sites, and footage of the area, show that the shooting in the videos could not be the same as the barrage of shooting , which infected Abu Aqila and its producer, Ali Al-Samudi.
According to the video clip analyzed by Robert Maher, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Montana State University who specializes in forensic audio analysis, the time differences between the sound of the firing and the impact of the bullets shows that the launch came from a distance between 177 and 197 meters, which corresponds almost exactly to the location of the The Israeli sniper, which the Israeli army has determined itself the location of its station.
At 200 metres, Cobb Smith said there was “no chance” that the indiscriminate shooting would hit three or four shots at such a narrow range, referring to the injuries in the tree.
He added, “From the signs of the bombing on the tree, it appears that the shots, one of which hit Shirin, came from down the street from the direction of the IDF forces, and the relatively tight grouping of bullets indicates that Shirin was deliberately targeted with targeted bullets. She is not a victim of random or stray fire.” .