The family of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh has accused the United States of providing impunity for Israel over her death and asked to meet US President Joe Biden in person during his trip to Israel next week.
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In a letter to Biden posted on Twitter on Friday, the family said the administration simply adopted the Israeli government's conclusions over her death, which it described as an extrajudicial killing, while falling short of its own stated goal of ensuring full accountability.
Abu Akleh was killed on May 11 during an Israeli raid Jenin, a stronghold of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in the West Bank.
The State Department on Monday said she was likely killed by gunfire from Israeli positions but it was probably unintentional and independent investigators could not reach a definitive conclusion about the origin of the bullet that struck her.
Palestinian officials criticized the report and maintained she had been deliberately targeted by an Israeli soldier, an accusation Israel strenuously denies.
In his first Middle East trip as president on July 13-16, Biden is expected to meet separately with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The Abu Akleh case will be a diplomatic and domestic test for new Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
