A Palestinian who covered Israeli operations in the Palestinian territories for years, Abu Akleh was also a US citizen, and her family had demanded a full US investigation into her death.
Abu Akleh’s brother, Tony Abu Akleh, told Al Jazeera the family was optimistic, saying it’s “very important to hold those responsible accountable and prevent similar crimes.”
“We hope this will be a turning point in the investigation into Shireen’s death,” he said.
Palestinian officials, Abu Akleh’s family and Al Jazeera accuse Israel of intentionally targeting and killing the 51-year-old journalist, who was wearing a helmet and a protective vest marked with the word ‘press’ when she was shot last May in the occupied West Bank.
She had covered the West Bank for Al Jazeera for two decades and was a well-known face across the Arab world. Her death reverberated across the region.
Palestinian Foreign Ministry officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Monday. A spokeswoman for outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declined to comment, and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to return to lead the country in the coming weeks, also had no immediate comment.
A series of investigations by international media outlets, including The Associated Press, found that Israeli troops most likely fired the fatal bullet. The US concluded that an Israeli soldier likely killed her by mistake, but it did not explain how it reached that conclusion.
Following its own investigation, Israel acknowledged that Israeli fire probably killed Abu Akleh, but vigorously denied allegations that a soldier intentionally targeted her.
It is not unusual for the FBI or other US investigators to mount probes into non-natural deaths or injuries of American citizens abroad, particularly if they are government employees.
However, such separate investigations are not the rule, and it is rare, if not unprecedented, for them to occur in a US-allied country like Israel, which is recognised in Washington as having a credible and independent judicial system.
Critics have long accused the military of doing a poor job of investigating wrongdoing by its troops and seldom holding forces accountable. Following their own investigation into the death, Israeli authorities decided not to launch a criminal investigation.
Abu Akleh was covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The area has been the focus of months of nightly Israeli arrest operations that were launched following a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis in the spring which killed 19 people.
More than 130 Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank have been killed this year, making 2022 the deadliest year of conflict in the region since 2006. Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but local youth protesting the raids as well as people not involved in the fighting have also been killed.
The Israeli raids have prompted a series of Palestinian shooting attacks that have killed at least four Israelis in recent weeks.
The probe comes weeks after Netanyahu secured what looked like a clear path to returning to the leadership after national elections. He is currently holding talks with his ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist allies over forming a government, and is expected to cobble together Israel’s most right-wing government ever.
The government, which is expected to see extremist lawmakers appointed to key ministries, is likely to cause concern among Israel’s global allies, including the US.
