Thread by @YarnoRitzen

I've been thinking about #ShireenAbuAkleh's killing and Israel's denial, saying 'we don't know for sure who shot her'.

To me, that theory doesn't add up, when looking at the videos and evidence we have.

One section of the Shireen vid in particular, to me, shows this.

🧵 1/19

This is the video section (blurred but graphic).

Let's break it down.

Shireen has been shot, fellow journalist Shatha Hanaysha is taking cover behind a tree.

At 5 seconds, a man climbs down. He leaves his cover at 0.13 tries to help Shireen, then gets shot at at 0.19

2/

For point of reference, these 3 maps collected by @ossielwashere help. .

In the vid, we're looking at #ShireenAbuAkleh body located in the red circle in the first image, with the gunshot coming from towards the green and blue circles. 3/

Back to the video.

The man in the white shirt leaves his cover at 0.13, then gets shot at at 0.19, six seconds, when he runs back to cover. (see video below)

That is six whole seconds of a man in a white shirt standing in the middle of the street. 4/

It is clear the man is unarmed. But more importantly, it is clear that the man is not part of the Israeli forces. They don't wear white t-shirts.

The @IDF released video of the raid that day, this is what they were wearing: it's military fatigues of course 5/?

For the sake of argument, let's say a Palestinian gunman did accidentally hit Shireen, mistaking the Press jacket for military clothing (possible but unlikely given the colours)

So after that, the gunman, thinking other soldiers will come, aims his gun down the street... 6/

... then, a man in a white shirt - clearly not IDF - appears in the street to help Shireen. The Palestinian gunman then takes 5-6 seconds to fire one shot?

Compare that to the following video, falsely claimed by Israel to be near where Shireen was shot. 7/

What do we see? A group of Palestinians, with one gunman shooting several rounds around a corner without aiming, then running for cover.

The exact opposite of what happens to the man in the white shirt: There is one shot, very deliberate. The shooter takes his time 8/

The man in the white shirt is in the street for 5-6 seconds before the 1 shot is fired.

If it is a Palestinian gunman laying in wait, why wait 5-6 seconds before shooting at someone who is clearly not IDF? Why fire one shot when in all other vids multiple rounds are fired? 9/

That one shot, to me, shows training, it shows trigger discipline, it shows deliberation.

To me, it has all the hallmarks of a trained soldier, not of a relatively untrained Palestinian gunman.

Israel, on the other hand, has one of the best trained armies in the world 10/

The more I have thought about those 5-6 seconds of the man in the white shirt in the street, the less sense it makes for that shot to be from a Palestinian.

If it is a Palestinian sniper, he should see the man in white is not IDF. If he's not a sniper, why fire one round? 11/

Israel says 'it might have been a Palestinian', but there is no chance Israel doesn't know exactly where its soldiers are at all points.

Israel knows if there was a soldier down that street, and it could prove there wasn't if it truly wasn't the case.

Here's why: 11/

IDF soldiers get kidnapped sometimes, and there is no way IDF soldiers aren't equipped with GPS tracking systems for safety (and tactical) reasons.

Israeli defence contractor Elbit even advertises for these tools: elbitsystems.com/landing/wp-con… 12/

So IDF can just look at the raw GPS data, release it to an independent (!) investigator if it wants to prove its claims.

My guess is, the IDF won't because it'll show there was an IDF soldier there when #ShireenAbuAkleh was shot.

13/

The theory it was a Pal. gunman who mistakingly shot Shireen, then lay in wait to fire 1 bullet at a man in a white shirt after aiming at him for 5-6 seconds just doesn't make sense to me.

It doesn't make sense looking at how these two forces operate in active fire zones.

14/

If you look at other IDF operational videos, there is always strict trigger discipline, always firing one or two well-placed shots.

IDF even prides themselves for doing this, for instance when they shoot a Palestinian.

This video shows it off well. 15/

Of course, there is more proof it was an IDF soldier that shot Shireen.

First, there are journalists who were with Shireen that say Shireen was shot by Israeli troops, and there were no Palestinian gunmen around. Documented here by @malonebarry

https://twitter.com/malonebarry/status/1524355473088069633

16/

Then there's the great #osint work done by, among many others, @katie_polglase and @YWNReporter.

Some highlights here:

https://twitter.com/katie_polglase/status/1524414456872288257

https://twitter.com/YWNReporter/status/1524433873760890882

17/

Finally, there is precedence for Israel shooting Palestinian journalists.

Most of the times, they're local journalists whose shootings sadly don't get the global coverage they deserve.

18/

cpj.org/2019/02/un-com…

This time, however, it was a journalist for a world-renowned media company, and my colleague.

END

ADDENDUM: Here is @bellingcat's analysis of Shireen killing, supporting the claim that it was almost certainly IDF fire that killed her.

bellingcat.com/news/mena/2022…

ADDENDUM 2: @bellingcat echoes my thoughts about the type of fire: it's deliberate and slow, not some random shooter.

https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1525598178971734018