Palestine hands bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist to US for examination

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Authority has said it handed the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to US officials to conduct a forensic examination.

“We have agreed to allow the American side to conduct a forensic examination of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh,” Palestinian Attorney-General Akram al-Khatib told the Doha-based Al Jazeera television late Saturday.

He said the bullet will not be given to the Israeli side.

On May 11, Abu Akleh, 51, was covering an Israeli military raid near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when she was shot dead.

While Palestinian officials and her employer Al Jazeera accused Israel of killing the reporter, Tel Aviv denied any responsibility.

Palestinian officials have rejected an Israeli request for conducting a joint investigation into the journalist’s death.

On May 26, al-Khatib announced that an examination of Abu Akleh’s body confirmed that she was killed by an armor-piercing projectile fired directly at her head by an Israeli sniper.

Several leading media agencies, including Al Jazeera, CNN, Associated Press, Washington Post, and the New York Times, conducted their own investigations, which all came to an end that Abu Akleh was killed by an Israeli bullet.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara.