The Palestinian Authority wants Israel to hand over the rifle from which the bullet that killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during rioting in Jenin in May was allegedly fired, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Sunday.
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Shtayyeh was speaking at a ceremony to mark 40 days since Abu Akleh's death.
The IDF says she was killed during a complex military operation in which troops traded fire with Palestinian rioters. It says only a sophisticated ballistic analysis of the bullet could determine whether it was fired by an IDF soldier or a Palestinian.
The Al Jazeera news network has published an image of the bullet that it says killed Abu Akleh.
It identified the bullet as a US-made 5.56mm round fired from an M4 rifle, commonly used by Israeli forces. The IDF says Palestinian terrorists use the same ammunition.
The IDF released its own image of sacks of bullets it says were confiscated in a raid last month. The bullets in the two images appear identical, with green marking on the tips.
Al Jazeera did not say how it obtained the purported image of the bullet, which is held by the Palestinian Authority. The picture shows what appears to be a curved, spent bullet in a clear plastic container labeled with a red marker.
The PA says it has overwhelming evidence that Israel was responsible and has refused to hand over the bullet for analysis or cooperate with Israel in any way. Its own investigation found that she was killed by a 5.56mm round fired by a Ruger Mini-14 semiautomatic rifle.
Israel says it has identified the army rifle that could have fired the fatal round but would need to analyze the bullet to reach any firm conclusion. It has not provided details about the rifle.
"Anyone who falsifies the history of a people and steals their land and heritage, can falsify a narrative, and we don't trust them [Israel]. Therefore, we have refused to hand over the bullet, and we even demand that they hand over the weapon that killed Shireen Abu Akleh," Shtayyeh said Sunday.
"Shireen was bravely committed to her work. She was the link between the Jenin refugee camp, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and she was a witness in the International Criminal Court against the crimes of the occupation," Shtayyeh claimed.
The question "is no longer the identity of the killer," said Walid Al-Omari, director of Al Jazeera in the Palestinian Territories.
"We only want justice for Shireen," said Anton Abu Akleh, the journalist's brother, at the ceremony.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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