An investigation by CNN into the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has concluded that Israeli troops most likely shot at her despite there being no active combat nearby.
Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank on May 11.
The Israeli military had said in a preliminary inquiry that there was a possibility Abu Akleh was hit either by indiscriminate Palestinian gunfire or by an Israeli sniper who was exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen.
The Israel Defense Forces said on May 19 that they had not yet decided whether to pursue a criminal investigation into Abu Akleh's death.
On Monday, Israeli military top lawyer major general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said that under the military's policy, a criminal investigation is not automatically launched if a person is killed in the "midst of an active combat zone" unless there is credible and immediate suspicion of a criminal offence.
CNN said on Wednesday that two videos from the scene of the shooting offered new evidence about what happened.
The videos, which CNN said were corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggest that Abu Akleh was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.
“The footage shows a calm scene before the reporters came under fire in the outskirts of Jenin refugee camp, near the main Awdeh roundabout. Hanaysha, four other journalists and three local residents said that it had been a normal morning in Jenin, home to about 345,000 people — 11,400 of whom live in the camp. Many were on their way to work or school, and the street was relatively quiet."
CNN wrote that about a dozen men were milling around Abu Akleh, watching her and her colleagues work.
In one 16-minute video, the man filming walks toward the spot where the journalists had gathered, zooming in on the Israeli armoured vehicles parked in the distance, and says: "Look at the snipers." Then, when a teenager peers tentatively up the street, he shouts: "Don't kid around... you think it's a joke? We don't want to die. We want to live."
Salim Awad, the 27-year-old Jenin camp resident who filmed the video, told CNN that there were no armed Palestinians or any clashes in the area, and he hadn't expected there to be gunfire, given the presence of journalists nearby.
His video captures the moment that shots were fired at Abu Akleh and shows that an Israeli convoy ahead had a direct line of sight to the group.
CNN spoke with a 16-year-old boy who was at the scene and who claimed that the gunfire came without warning, with no conflict nearby.
Bodycam footage released by Israel's military shows soldiers running while holding assault rifles, moving into the streets where the armoured vehicles were parked.
CNN noted that Israeli raids on the Jenin refugee camp have become a regular occurrence since early April, in the wake of several attacks by Palestinians that left Israelis and foreigners dead.
According to the Israeli military, some of the suspected assailants of those attacks were from Jenin.