Senator Presses for Declassified Report on Al Jazeera Reporter’s Killing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) —
Palestinians attend a protest demanding U.S President Joe Biden to achieve justice for Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in Gaza City in 2022. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo)

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen called on Monday for declassifying a government report on the death of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was shot and killed while covering an IDF raid last year.

Israel says Abu Akleh, was likely unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but could also have been struck by Palestinian fire. Abu Akleh’s family believes she was killed deliberately.

The U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority (USSC) conducted an investigation, but the report remains classified. In a statement, Van Hollen, a Democrat on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, said the report contains important insights into her death.

Van Hollen said that while the USSC team was “unable to conduct an independent investigation” due to lack of access to key witnesses, the report’s public release was still vital to ensuring accountability in the shooting death of a U.S. citizen.

The U.S. State Department, which oversees the USSC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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