The Jerusalem Post ePaper

Bullet that killed Al Jazeera reporter handed to US, says PA

• By KHALED ABU TOAMEH and ANNA AHRONHEIM

the palestinian authority has handed over to the united states the bullet that killed al jazeera journalist shireen abu akleh, pa prosecutor-General akram Khatib told the Qatari-owned al jazeera network on saturday.

“the relevant parties in the state of palestine agreed to allow the us side to conduct ballistic works on the bullet. it was handed over to them,” said Khatib, in a statement published by the official palestinian news agency waFa.

there was no immediate comment from us diplomatic officials in jerusalem.

the americans will carry out a ballistic examination after receiving the bullet that was extracted from abu akleh’s head shortly after her death in jenin in may, Khatib said.

He emphasized that the bullet would not be handed over to israel.

the decision to transfer the bullet to the us came after a phone call between pa president mahmoud abbas and us secretary of state antony Blinken last week, palestinian sources confirmed.

abu akleh, 51, was a us citizen who had worked for al jazeera for the past two decades. she lived in east jerusalem.

the idF said they entered jenin in order to carry out arrests and were met by “widespread and uncontrolled gunfire” as well as accurate shots and improvised explosive devices hurled toward troops.

abu akleh was killed toward the end of the raid on the outskirts of Burkin near the west Bank city of jenin. another journalist, ali sammoudi, was also injured.

the day after her death, soldiers reenacted the scene to create a 3d picture of it in an attempt to better understand where the soldiers and armed palestinians were in order to analyze shooting angles.

the idF added extra mapping units that specialize in high-resolution satellite images and mapping that are able to bring about a clearer picture of the scene.

The military has not ruled out any possibility about who shot Abu Akleh, whether a Palestinian gunman or an IDF soldier. It has said the only way to determine who fired

the bullet is to carry out a ballistic test to match the bullet with the gun.

The IDF has reportedly narrowed down the rifle that might have fired the bullet that hit Abu Akleh.

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2022-07-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-07-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://jpost.pressreader.com/article/281702618410857

Jerusalem Post