Al Jazeera Files Case at ICC Over Journalist’s Killing

The Al Jazeera network has submitted a case against Israeli forces at the International Criminal Court, ICC, over the killing of Shireen Abu Aqla.

The Palestinian-American journalist was shot in the head during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank in May.

The Israeli military concluded that one of its soldiers probably killed her, but “called her death unintentional.”

Al Jazeera said that was completely unfounded and that its evidence showed it was a “deliberate killing.”

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said: “No-one will investigate [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers and no-one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera.”

Israel does not recognise the ICC’s authority and has refused to co-operate with an investigation by the Hague-based court’s prosecutor into possible war crimes in the occupied territories.

Shireen Abu Aqla, who was 51, went to the Jenin refugee camp on 11 May to report for Al Jazeera’s Arabic TV channel on an Israeli raid which had seen gun battles break out between soldiers and Palestinian militants.

She was wearing a helmet and blue flak jacket marked with the word “press” when she was killed while walking along a road with other journalists, one of whom was also shot and wounded.

Journalists, bystanders and Palestinian officials said the gunfire came from Israeli troops stationed about 200m, 656ft, away – allegations which was later backed by investigations by the UN and multiple media organisations.

The Israel Defense Forces, IDF, initially said that it was not possible to know who killed Abu Aqla. But in September a senior official told journalists that there was a high probability that she was shot “by mistake by an IDF soldier, and of course he didn’t identify her as a journalist.”

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq