News - Middle East: A retired American colonel, who was part of the investigation into the 2022 killing of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at the hands of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, says he is certain an Israeli soldier intentionally shot her.

Colonel Steve Gabavics, a 30-year veteran military police officer and former commander of Guantanamo Bay prison, told The New York Times that the Israeli soldier responsible for the fatal shot deliberately targeted Abu Akleh.

The 51-year-old prominent reporter was killed while she was covering clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian resistance fighters in the Jenin refugee camp on May 11, 2022. She was wearing a vest marked “Press” and a helmet at the time.

She was rushed to a hospital in Jenin in critical condition, where she was declared dead shortly after, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Ali Samoudi, another Palestinian journalist for the Al Jazeera channel, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back.

The Israeli military initially blamed Palestinian fighters, but following a probe, it later acknowledged that she was very likely shot by a soldier who “misidentified” her.

Gabavics accused the administration of former US President Joe Biden of softening its conclusions to evade a diplomatic dispute with the Tel Aviv regime.

He also said when the American probe did not find the shooting intentional, he and other fellow investigators “were just flabbergasted that this is what they put out.”

Gabavics maintains that radio communications, the positioning of Israeli forces, and the precision of the shots indicate Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted.

The retired officer in the US military, then working at the US Office of the Coordinator for Security Affairs, cited evidence showing that Israeli soldiers knew journalists were present and could see their “Press” markings

He also argued that the sequence of shots killing Abu Akleh and wounding others did not allow for an accidental shooting.

Not all officials involved agreed. Gabavics’s superior at the time, Lieutenant General Michael Fenzel, said there was insufficient evidence to prove an intentional attack.

A documentary aired earlier this year by Zeteo News identified Captain Alon Scagio, a 20-year-old sniper in the Duvdevan commando unit at the time, as the suspected shooter behind the deadly shooting.

Scagio was killed by an improvised explosive device in Jenin in 2023 at the age of 22.

Abu Akleh’s killing drew widespread condemnation from governments, human rights watchdogs, media advocacy groups, and resistance movements across the world.

Press TV