FBI faces calls to release report on death of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

May 12 (UPI) -- The FBI is facing pressure to release its long-awaited report investigating the 2022 killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11, 2022, while covering a raid by the Israeli military on a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank while wearing a press vest and standing with other journalists when she was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.

Her death, which former U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price admitted was caused by Israel, increased the temperature between Palestinians and occupation forces already strained by rising violence by illegal Israeli settlers and, later, police raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in the buildup to the current war in Gaza.

"Israel continues to shield itself from accountability by deliberately refusing to cooperate with the FBI and by indicating it won't let its soldiers be questioned before the International Criminal Court should it open an investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh's killing," Carlos Martínez de la Serna of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement.

"It is time to break Israel's longstanding impunity in journalist killings, which have only multiplied in the Israel-Gaza war. The FBI needs to disclose a timeline for the conclusion of its investigation, and Israel must cooperate with the FBI probe and any future ICC probe."

The FBI has not released any of its findings into Abu Akleh's killing, including information about whether the journalist had been intentionally targeted. Before the Gaza war began, Israel also failed to be held accountable for killing 20 journalists in the past two decades.

Israeli forces have killed 92 Palestinian journalists and three Lebanese journalists since the war began in October.

Meanwhile, Israel on Saturday detained journalists on suspicions they were working for Al Jazeera after banning the news broadcaster for its coverage of the war in Gaza.