The Blingket investigative website published a report in which it revealed the facts and evidence that Israeli soldiers were involved in the murder of veteran journalist Shirin Abu Akle based on an analysis of a number of footage recorded from the scene.
The site, translated by Arabic 21, said the videos, which were quickly shared on social media, helped expose some of the circumstances surrounding Abu Aqeel’s death, as the turbulent moments after his shooting and Shows the efforts of his colleagues. To reach him
Hours after the journalist was killed, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that there was a strong possibility that Palestinian gunmen who had fired large-scale shots would be responsible for his killing. At a subsequent press conference, Israeli Defense Minister Bani Gantz suggested that “the Palestinians were the ones who shot him, which may be in our interest. We are looking into this.”
But Palestinian leaders have questioned the impartiality of Israel’s investigation into Abu Aqela’s murder, accusing both the Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera of the Israeli army of being involved in Shirin’s assassination.
According to the website, eyewitnesses, including journalists who were present at the time of Abu Aqla’s death, said that Israeli soldiers shot them without warning and that they were deliberately targeted as journalists. Although the Israeli military has acknowledged the possibility that one of its soldiers may have been responsible for the attack, its May 13 findings only provide scenarios in which Abu Bakr was accidentally killed.
The site said that open source photos and videos documenting what happened may not be enough to prove the identity of the person who fired the bullet that killed Abu Aqeel. However, one can start to get a picture of how events took place on the scene and compare it with official statements and testimonies to see if there is a contradiction.
For example, an interim report by the Israeli army suggested that there may be gunmen between the soldiers and Abu Aqeel, and that an Israeli soldier was mistakenly shot by a reporter. However, there are no videos of other gunmen on the street between the Israeli army and reporters. Also, all the witnesses and reporters present at the scene did not see or omit the presence of any of these gunmen on the narrow road that separates them from the Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli army statement also assumes that gunmen opened fire on army forces, injuring Abu Aqeel in the process. A video clip on social media shows gunmen firing quick bullets, possibly at the Israeli army. However, the sound of gunshots being heard during the filming of a man trying to pull out Abu Akleh’s body shortly after his death was not loud, but slow and deliberate, indicating complete targeting.
The location of the gunmen depicted in the social media videos was either far away from Abu Akla from the Israeli army or they were not in a position to see or target him. Other photos and videos posted by other social media sites appear to be largely consistent with eyewitness accounts.
The video, posted on Facebook, shows Israeli army forces reaching a position 190 to 250 meters to the south, where they were shot dead, shortly after the first reports of Abu Aqla being killed. This is significant given the results of the acoustic analysis, which estimates that the shooting of Abu Aqeel’s colleagues while he was dead originated from a distance of 177 to 184 meters.
Although the video posted on Facebook could not confirm the exact time of the Israeli army’s arrival at the site where Abu Quilla was shot, the metadata is from videos shot by social media users and camera operators at the scene, or From the videos that have been published in this place. Facebook, taken by the Israeli army, can shed more light on this. This makes it possible to further limit the possibilities of the location of Israeli forces at the time of Abu Aqeel’s death.
The site stated that a series of video clips showing the location of Abu Aqeel’s fall contained shadows that give an estimate of when he was killed. The first video of the shooting scene that Blingket was able to find was shared on Telegram at 6:36 a.m. local time.
Ali al-Samoudi, a journalist who was shot near Abu Aqeel, was also shot and broadcast his trip to a local hospital at 6:33 a.m.
Source: Lebanon Debate
