The US State Department told Al Jazeera that it was calling for a comprehensive investigation into the murder of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Aqleh and full accountability, but the International Criminal Court was not the right place for that.
She also stated - in response to a question about Washington's position on the developments of the Sherine assassination file and the referral of the file by Al-Jazeera to the International Criminal Court prosecutor - that it is "deeply concerned about the safety and protection of journalists, and takes press freedom seriously."
But it affirmed its adherence to what it described as "a long-term opposition to the investigation of the International Criminal Court in the Palestinian issue."
On the other hand, Palestinian journalists organized a solidarity stand in Gaza, in support of the efforts of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate to go to the International Criminal Court to try the Israeli occupation for its crimes and violations against journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The participants called on human rights and international organizations to work to protect Palestinian journalists and their media headquarters from the continuous Israeli violations.
Last Friday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken urged Israel to complete and end its investigation into the killing of Shirin Abu Akleh and announce the results, while Al Jazeera network announced that the file had been submitted to the International Criminal Court.
In a statement, the network indicated that it had formed an international legal alliance that includes its legal team, along with international legal experts, and that it has started preparing a complete file on the case to be submitted to the court's public prosecutor.
Director of Al Jazeera's office in Palestine, Walid Al-Omari, confirmed that Al Jazeera is determined to achieve justice for colleague Shireen Abu Aqleh.
During his intervention - at a press conference held in London regarding the complaint submitted to the Public Prosecutor of the Criminal Court last April regarding the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists by the occupation forces - Al-Omari stressed that all the data indicate that Shireen was killed by an Israeli sniper’s rifle who deliberately shot her. .
In addition to the assassination of Abu Aqila, the legal file will also include the Israeli bombing of the Al-Jazeera office in Gaza and its complete destruction in May 2021, in addition to the repeated attacks on its journalistic elements working in the occupied Palestinian territories, and even incitement against them.