Palestinian Justice Minister Muhammad al-Shalaldeh said on Sunday that the United States handed over the bullet that assassinated Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the Palestinian Authority, which is now awaiting the announcement of the results of criminal investigations inside the American embassy.
He added that Washington returned the bullet on Saturday morning to the Palestinian Authority, and an examination was conducted on it and it was found that there were no changes on it from a technical and professional point of view, and it returned as it is.
"I think there should be an independent investigation so that we understand exactly what happened, who is responsible and why," Shalaldeh told Al Jazeera, adding that "we can talk about the consequences once we know that, but I think there should be an objective investigation, and I am happy that the United States can help play a role." role in that."
The Palestinian Authority had agreed to hand over the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Aqleh to the US side for a criminal examination, following an official request from Washington.
Al-Shalaldeh stressed that the late Abu Aqleh holds American citizenship, and the United States has the right "to request this projectile for the purposes of conducting a comprehensive and impartial investigation into the killing of the martyr Shirin Abu Aqleh, and we in the Palestinian Authority welcome that."
He said that the ultimate goal was to "hold the occupying power individually criminally responsible" for the killing of Abu Aqila.
Al-Jazeera sources suggested that the US embassy in Israel would hand over the results of its investigation into the bullet that killed colleague Shireen Abu Akleh to the Palestinian Authority in the coming hours.
The sources reported that the bullet test was conducted at the headquarters of the US embassy in West Jerusalem in the presence of an Israeli expert, while the Palestinians refused to send an expert from their side because they did not trust the Israeli side, whom they consider the only suspect in the crime.
And Israeli media quoted an army spokesman as saying that if the Israeli army was proven to be involved in the crime, it would take responsibility and regret the incident, as he put it.
And the Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al-Khatib confirmed - earlier - that the United States had brought American experts to conduct criminal examinations on the projectile that killed Shireen, and that the examination would take place inside the American embassy in Jerusalem.
The Attorney General added, in contact with Al Jazeera, that the Palestinian Authority had obtained guarantees from American officials that the projectile would not be handed over to Israel, and that the Palestinian Authority would not, in turn, hand over the projectile to the Israeli side.
The Chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the US House of Representatives, Adam Schiff, called for an independent investigation into the case of the killing of Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, and said - in an interview with CBS - that it is necessary to conduct an objective investigation into the case to find out the motives and the official and hold him accountable. Consequently.