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On Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported that martyred journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was assassinated by Israeli soldiers and that her case had been presented to the International Criminal Court.
The Qatar-based station alleged to have “acquired fresh evidence” in the assassination of the Palestinian-American, who was killed while reporting an Israeli army operation in Jenin on May 11.
Any individual or organization may register a complaint with the ICC prosecutor for investigation, although the Hague-based court is not required to consider such complaints. The Israeli officials’ assertion that Shireen was accidentally killed during a firefight is unsupported, the channel added.
A witness for Al Jazeera was seen by an AFP reporter approaching the ICC’s offices to deliver their submission. Israel is not a member of the ICC and contests the court’s authority, therefore the ICC this year opened an investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
Israel declared that it will not assist in any outside investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement that “no one will look into IDF (Israeli military) soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in battle, especially not Al-Jazeera.”On September 5, the Israeli army said that one of its troops had probably shot Abu Akleh because he thought she was a jihadist.
The senior journalist, a Christian, was shot in the head at the Jenin refugee camp, a significant flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while wearing a bulletproof vest with the word “Press” and a helmet.
The ICC prosecutor freely chooses which cases to present to the court’s judges after receiving complaints from people or organizations.
The prosecutor may conduct a preliminary inquiry, which the judge must approve before a formal investigation and, if necessary, the filing of charges may proceed. According to the ICC, these allegations typically don’t result in investigations.
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