Initial Israel investigations showing where it says the
Israel Defense Forces were exchanging gunfire with militants (B) versus where Akleh was killed (A). Israeli Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett initially posted a tweet blaming the death on Palestinian gunmen, citing a video posted by the Israeli military. Human rights organization
B'Tselem documented the exact location from which Palestinian militants depicted in that video had fired and the exact location in which Abu Akleh had been killed, observing that the two locations were hundreds of meters apart and separated by multiple walls and buildings. Later in the day, the Israeli military chief, Lt Gen
Aviv Kochavi, said: "At this stage we cannot determine by whose fire she was harmed and we regret her death." Robert Mackey from
The Intercept said that the Israeli army later released body camera footage to show that Palestinian militants fired on its forces; a comparison with video recorded by the B'Tselem researcher later in the day confirmed that "Israeli soldiers were at the end of the alley the Palestinian militant had been filmed firing down" and when the "Israeli soldiers retreated from that alley, they emerged onto the very same street that Abu Akleh was standing on when she was shot." According to the Israeli military, Palestinian militants had fired on IDF soldiers, after which the soldiers returned fire. In the video, a militant was heard saying, "They [Palestinian militants]'ve hit one, they've hit a soldier, he's laying on the ground." As no Israeli soldiers were injured during the operation, Israeli authorities said it was likely the Palestinians had shot Akleh by mistake, thinking she was a soldier. A
Haaretz report found the possibility unlikely as several buildings blocked a direct line of sight between that militant and the reporter. According to
Amos Harel,
Israeli communications on the incident were overly hasty, and risked feeding suspicions of a cover-up. Communications Minister
Yoaz Hendel told
Israel Hayom he assumed Palestinian gunfire was to blame for her death. According to
Haaretz, military spokesman Ran Kochav told Kan Bet public radio: "We offered the Palestinians to investigate immediately, a joint investigation, to find out of who shot the Palestinian" but no such offer had been made and several hours passed before Foreign Minister Yair Lapid discussed the situation with senior PA (
Palestine Authority) official
Hussein al-Sheikh, who denied that any offer was made. An interim IDF probe narrowed down the circumstances of her death to two scenarios: either a case of indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire and one of possibly errant Israeli sniper fire. Al Jazeera reported that according to their
Ramallah bureau chief,
Walid Al-Omari, there was no shooting by Palestinian gunmen; Al-Omari also stated that Abu Akleh had been wearing a helmet and was shot in an unprotected area under her ear, suggesting that this demonstrated she was "deliberately targeted". An
Agence France-Presse photojournalist reported that Israeli forces had shot and killed Abu Akleh.
Subsequent investigations The United States demanded a transparent investigation, while the European Union demanded an independent probe, and was supported by
Michelle Bachelet, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Several independent groups, including news outlets, launched their own investigations.
Bellingcat carried out a video and audio analysis of
social media from Palestinian and Israeli military sources concluding that while gunmen and Israeli soldiers were both present, gunmen were much further away, and the evidence supported witness accounts that Israeli fire was likely responsible. The shooting, says Bellingcat, was "slow and deliberate, suggesting targeting rather than a spray of bullets aimed at another object or person". Palestinian fighters also use the M4. The
Associated Press has also carried out a reconstruction of events saying it "lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akleh's colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun", and that "any conclusive answer is likely to prove elusive because of the severe distrust between the two sides, each of which is in sole possession of potentially crucial evidence." A
CNN investigation, which reviewed 11 videos and interviewed eyewitnesses and a firearms expert, said the new evidence suggests "that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces". On May 26, the Jerusalem Post reported that Palestine had completed its investigation, forwarded the findings to the US administration, concluding that the IDF "directly and deliberately" targeted Abu Akleh. Israel denied the accusation. The Palestinian Authority refused an Israeli request to conduct a joint investigation, insisting on the results of its own investigation which found that the IDF had deliberately killed Abu Akleh. The Palestinian Authority also refused requests to hand the bullet over to Israel for ballistic testing. The Israeli government identified the gun of a soldier which may have killed her but insisted that it could not determine which side had fired the fatal shot without the bullet. A bipartisan group of
United States Congress members urged the Biden administration to press the Palestinian Authority to release the bullet for tests. Israel also suggested a joint probe into the death, which was rejected by the Palestinian Authority on the grounds that it wanted an independent investigation. The IDF announced that it had begun investigating the possibility that one of its soldiers had shot and killed Abu Akleh, beginning inquiries into three shooting incidents that involved its soldiers, with one of them occurring within of where Abu Akleh was located. An IDF official said that this was "the more probable to be involved in the death" of the three being investigated. An unidentified military spokesperson told reporters that a rifle has been identified which might be that used but without the bullet it cannot be confirmed. Israeli officials also confirmed that "soldiers in a military vehicle had been about from where the journalists were working, and fired repeatedly about the time Abu Akleh was killed." The IDF later announced that while an operational inquiry into the killing would still go on, they would not conduct an enquiry in the fashion of
criminal investigation, saying there was no suspicion on their part that a criminal act had been committed. The Israeli government issued a statement that no criminal investigation was required.
Al Jazeera reporter Imran Khan stated that "a criminal investigation into a serving Israeli army officer or soldier on an active military operation" would be "absolutely untenable" in the current Israeli
political climate, since the public generally views the IDF "as being untouchable, as being defenders of Israel". Following the Israeli refusal, Congressman
André Carson said that, as of May 19, a letter to Blinken requesting that the FBI investigate had collected 55 congressional signatures. Separate from the announcement that the Military Police would not be opening an investigation into the killing, due to the lack of suspicion of criminality, the IDF nevertheless announced on May 19 that it had identified the gun that 'may have killed Abu Akleh'. However, it said the conclusion would remain uncertain without a bullet analysis. The Palestinian attorney-general, Akram Al-Khatib, said on July 2 that the bullet has been handed over to a recently arrived "specialized US team of experts" for technical examination. According to Al-Khatib, the test would take place at the US embassy in Jerusalem and "we got guarantees from the American coordinator that the examination will be conducted by them and that the Israeli side will not take part", but according to Kochav, "The testing will be carried out by Israeli investigators in the presence of US observers". The US State Department subsequently announced on July 4 that tests by independent ballistics experts under U.S. oversight were not conclusive about the gun it was fired from, but that US officials have concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions most likely killed Akleh and that there was "no reason to believe" her shooting was intentional. US investigators had "full access" to both IDF and PA investigations. The Palestinian Public Prosecutor's Office disputes the US conclusion that the bullet cannot be matched to a gun and maintains its position that the killing was premeditated. On July 5, the US stressed that it did not conduct its own probe, but the conclusion was a "summation" of investigations by the Palestinian Authority and Israel. On June 12, the
Washington Post published the results of its own investigation suggesting that an Israeli soldier in an identified convoy "likely shot and killed Abu Akleh". On June 20, the
New York Times published what it described as a "month long investigation" concluding that "the bullet that killed Ms. Abu Akleh was fired from the approximate location of the Israeli military convoy, most likely by a soldier from an elite unit." The
Times further found that there had been no Palestinian militants in the area that Abu Akleh was working when she was shot, refuting claims by the Israeli military that had an IDF soldier shot her it had been due to engaging with Palestinian gunmen in the area at the time. On June 24, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had concluded Abu Akleh was killed by a bullet fired by the IDF, based on information provided by the IDF and the Palestinian attorney general as well as inspection of photo, video and audio material, visiting the scene, consulting experts, reviewing official communications and interviewing of witnesses. The spokesperson said, "It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation". The Israeli human rights organization
Yesh Din analyzed Israeli military records on prosecutions resulting from military investigations and found that Israeli forces have "near-total impunity from prosecution in cases in which Palestinians were harmed by IDF soldiers", and further that the army's investigative mechanisms are not adequate as the data shows that "even when the army does investigate, it does not lead to justice," with just 5 criminal prosecutions, 2% of all complaints received, in 2019–2020. On September 5, the IDF released the results of its own investigation, finding that there was a "high possibility" that Abu Akleh was "accidentally hit" by army fire, but that it would not begin a criminal investigation. The report claimed that the army had come under fire from Palestinians in the area, saying the army could not definitively rule out the possibility that Palestinian gunmen killed Abu Akleh, and that there was no suspicion of a criminal act in her death. A video of the incident did not corroborate the claim that Palestinian fighters were firing from the scene. The
Associated Press reported that in a briefing with reporters, "a senior military official" said that an Israeli soldier had, "with very high likelihood", misidentified Abu Akleh and shot her by mistake. He did not explain why eyewitnesses and video footage contradicted the Israeli claims of Palestinian gunfire in the area. Abu Akleh's family continued to call for an independent investigation by the United States and an
International Criminal Court inquiry, saying that the IDF report "tried to obscure the truth and avoid responsibility" and that "Our family is not surprised by this outcome since it's obvious to anyone that Israeli war criminals cannot investigate their own crimes." The Foreign Press Association, representing international media covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, said the IDF conclusions "raise major questions about the military's actions that day and serious doubts about its stated commitment to protecting journalists in the future," while the committee to Protect Journalists, which advocates for press freedom worldwide, said the report "does not provide the answers — by any measure of transparency or accountability — that her family and colleagues deserve." Israeli Prime Minister
Yair Lapid pushed back against calls for a criminal prosecution, stating that the soldier "was protecting himself from terrorist fire". He added that "no one will dictate our rules of engagement" and that "our soldiers have the full backing of the government [...] and the people." On September 20, a joint investigation released by
Al-Haq and Forensic Architecture, an international research group, concluded that Abu Akleh and her colleagues were subject of "Israel's deliberate targeting".
US investigation The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the killing, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced on November 15, 2022. Defense Minister Benny Gantz called the investigation "a grave mistake." He said that "the IDF conducted an independent and professional investigation, the details of which were presented to the Americans" and "I made it clear to the American representatives that we stand behind the IDF soldiers, that we will not cooperate with any external investigation, and we will not allow interference in Israel's internal affairs". Three Israeli and U.S. officials told
Axios that the White House and the State Department told the Israeli government they were not behind the FBI decision to open an investigation. On November 14, 2022, 19 House Democrats introduced standalone legislation, the
Justice for Shireen Act, requiring a report on the killing. On November 15, 2022, Amnesty International said in a statement reacting to the announcement of an investigation that "Israel cannot keep killing Palestinians with impunity." The official report from the
US State Department concluded that shots fired from Israeli military positions were "likely responsible," for Abu Akleh's death, but they "found no reason to believe that this was intentional." It concluded that the shooting "the result of tragic circumstances." His boss, Lt. Gen. Michael R. Fenzel, stands by the conclusions of the original report. On May 26, 2022, the same day as Palestine said it had completed its investigation and forwarded the findings to the US administration, Al Jazeera said that it would file a case with the ICC to cover the killing and "the Israeli bombing and total destruction of Al Jazeera's office in Gaza in May 2021, as well as the continuous incitements and attacks on its journalists operating in the occupied Palestinian territories." The family of Abu Akleh said it had given permission for the case of her killing to be submitted to the
International Criminal Court (ICC). On September 20, 2022, the same day as the conclusion of the joint investigation by
Al-Haq and Forensic Architecture, lawyers and advocacy groups referred the shooting to the International Criminal Court on behalf of her family. On December 6, 2022, Al Jazeera submitted new evidence and announced its own filing of a separate formal ICC complaint against Israeli forces over the killing.
Ned Price,
Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, said that the US has been protesting the
International Criminal Court investigation in Palestine for a long time. He said that the ICC should focus on the punishment and prevention of atrocity crimes.
Yair Lapid, former Prime Minister of Israel, said, "No one is going to investigate Israeli military soldiers and no one is going to sermonize to us about the ethics of war, definitely not Al Jazeera."
Zeteo documentary An investigative documentary
Who Killed Shireen? published by
Zeteo in May 2025 identified Shireen's killer as Israeli soldier Alon Scagio of the
Duvdevan Unit. The investigation revealed that Israel was immediately aware that one of its soldiers had shot Shireen despite their public attempts to blame Palestinians. The film also claims that the US investigation determined that Shireen was shot intentionally but that the Biden administration overruled that finding. According to Israeli soldiers interviewed in the investigation, Scagio's colleagues subsequently used Shireen's picture for target practice. Scagio was killed in combat by a roadside bomb in Jenin on 27 June 2024 at the age of 22. == In popular culture ==