The United States said on Tuesday it would press Israel to reconsider its military rules of engagement following an IDF probe into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was likely killed by an Israeli soldier during clashes with terrorists near Jenin in May.
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State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel clarified Washington's position on the results of the military review conducted by the Israeli military that were announced on Monday.
"We're going to continue to press our Israeli partners to closely review its policies and practices on rules of engagement and consider additional steps to mitigate the risk of civilian harm, protect journalists and prevent similar tragedies in the future. That is a key goal for us," he said at a regular briefing.
Earlier, the US welcomed Israel's probe into the killing of the Palestinian-American journalist, however, Abu Akleh's family remained unsatisfied with the results of the investigation.
The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel to review its open-fire policies with Secretary of State Antony Blinken raising the issue during his calls with Israeli statesmen.
The rules in question require soldiers to shout at a suspect to halt activities, fire into the air, and only use lethal force in case of a direct threat.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lambasted the US move, saying that the instructions are to be determined by IDF commanders alone, "without pressure, internal or external."
"This is the truth: at any given moment there are Palestinian terrorists trying to murder Israelis. Not the other way around. We do not take pulling the trigger lightly, but the moral directive is to hit terrorists and save human lives. As prime minister, I gave full backing to our fighters, and I expect our friends in the world not to preach morality to us but to back us in our war on terror."
Jenin is known as a bastion of Palestinian terrorists, and Israel has carried out raids there almost nightly since a string of deadly attacks inside Israel earlier this year, some of which were carried out by assailants from the area.
The IDF has said that soldiers had been under continuous fire for almost an hour from multiple directions before Abu Akleh was shot. The military released several videos showing Palestinian terrorists firing automatic weapons and soldiers coming under fire that day.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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