Multiple shots are heard in rapid succession cutting through the clear, blue spring morning of Jenin, West Bank. Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.
The cameraman is filming the scene and scrambles backwards in order to hide behind a concrete wall. A man shouts out in Arabic, "Injured!" Shireen, Shireen, oh man, Shireen! Ambulance!"
The camera operator pans around to the corner and Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Ab Akleh can seen lying motionless on the ground. Shatha Hanaysha (a Palestinian reporter) crouches down beside Shireen, using a tree trunk as cover. Hanaysha attempts to wake her up, but she is unsuccessful. The woman does not respond. Both women are wearing helmets, and both have blue protective vests marked "Press."
A man wearing a white T-shirt and trying to move Abu Akleh is stopped by gunfire. After a while, he finally manages to drag her from the street.
Majdi Banura, Al Jazeera's cameraman, captured the moment Abu Akleh (a 51-year old Palestinian-American) was shot to the head with a bullet at 6:30 a.m., May 11. The journalist was standing near Jenin refugee camp's entrance, having been there to cover an Israeli raid. Although the footage doesn't show Abu Akleh being killed, eyewitnesses have told CNN that Israeli forces fired on the journalists in a targeted attack. All journalists were wearing blue vests with blue stripes that identified them as news media personnel.
"We stood for five to ten minutes in front of the Israeli military vehicles before we started moving to make sure they saw us. This is our habit as journalists. We move together and stand in front of them to let them know that we are journalists. Then, we start moving," Hanaysha said to CNN. She described their cautious approach towards the Israeli army convoy before the gunfire started.
Hanaysha stated that she was shocked when Abu Akleh died. She didn't know what was going on. Hanaysha thought Abu Akleh had fallen to the ground. She didn't seem to be breathing when she glanced at the reporter that she idolized from childhood. Under her head, blood was accumulating.
"As soon [Shireen] fell I was unable to comprehend that she [was] shot]. Although I could hear the sound of bullets, I didn't understand why they were coming at me. She said that I didn't understand the entire time.
"I thought they were shooting, so we stayed back. I didn't believe they were trying to kill me."
Ran Kochav, an Israeli military spokesperson, stated that Abu Akleh was "filming and working as a journalist amidst armed Palestinians" on the day of shooting. According to The Times of Israel, they are armed with cameras.
According to the Israeli military, it is unclear who fired the fatal shot. The army suggested that Abu Akleh could have been struck by indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire or an Israeli sniper, who was about 200m (about 656ft) away from Palestinian gunmen in an exchange fire with them. However, neither Israel nor any other country has provided evidence to show that Abu Akleh had armed Palestinians within his direct line of fire.
On May 19, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), stated that it was still deciding whether to launch a criminal investigation into Abu Akleh’s death. Major General Yifat Tomer Yirushalmi, the top Israeli lawyer, stated Monday that a criminal investigation cannot be automatically initiated if someone is killed "midst an active combat zone." Unless there is credible suspicion of a crime. The United States Congress, the United Nations and international community all demanded an independent investigation.
CNN's investigation has provided new evidence, including two videos from the scene of the shooting, that Abu Akleh was not in active combat or surrounded by militants during the time leading to her death. CNN videos, which were corroborated with testimony from eight eyewitnesses and an explosive weapons expert, show that Abu Akleh was killed in an Israeli targeted attack.
