Family members and colleagues of slain Palestinian Arab-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh told UN investigators on Thursday she had been deliberately targeted as part of Israel's "wide-scale war" on Palestinian Arab media workers, AFP reported.
The killing of the veteran Al Jazeera reporter, who was shot dead during clashes between IDF soldiers and terrorists in Jenin on May 11, is the subject of one of the first in a series of rare public hearings at the UN.
"We want concrete accountability. We want justice," the slain journalist's niece, Lina Abu Aqleh told AFP on Thursday after testifying at what she said was a "historic" hearing at the UN in Geneva.
The hearings are being hosted by the so-called Commission of Inquiry (COI) created by the UN Human Rights Council last year to probe the root causes of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Speaking to the investigators, Lina Abu Aqleh said it was "painful beyond words" to think about how her aunt died, insisting there was no doubt Israeli soldiers "were deliberately targeting my aunt."
Abu Aqleh's colleague Ali Sammoudi, an Al Jazeera producer who was also shot that day but survived, said the group was "wearing full journalist attire" and that there had been no militant activity nearby.
Suddenly "a bullet exploded in the air," he said, describing how he screamed "Go back!" before feeling "an explosion in my back."
Holding up a photograph of his slain colleague, Sammoudi claimed that "Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed in cold blood, intentionally."
The IDF released a report on Abu Aqleh’s death in September. The report found that it was not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire from which Abu Aqleh was hit and killed. The report said that there is a high possibility Abu Aqleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire, but it is also possible that she was hit by gunfire from Palestinian Arab terrorists.
The family criticized the IDF’s internal investigation, saying it "tried to hide the truth and avoid taking responsibility."
The PA initially refused Israel’s request to launch a joint probe to investigate the incident, and instead released the findings of its investigation, claiming that she was shot by IDF forces.
Eventually, the PA finally agreed to a forensic investigation by the US of the bullet that they claim killed Abu Aqleh.
In September, Abu Aqleh’s family filed a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over her death.
The family said in the complaint that they included new evidence which allegedly prove that Israeli soldiers "deliberately targeted" her.