A former U.S. military investigator says the Biden administration dismissed an internal finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, issuing a public statement that contradicted his conclusion and aligned with Israel’s claim that the shooting was accidental.
Col. Steve Gabavics, a career military policeman and former chief of staff to the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said his team found clear evidence that Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted while reporting on an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
Gabavics told The New York Times that after visiting the scene and reconstructing the shooting, “it would have been the most absurd thing in the world” for the killing to have been accidental. “The individual popped out of the truck, just was randomly shooting, and happened to have really well-aimed shots and never looked down the scope. Which wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
According to Gabavics, the evidence included Israeli military communications indicating that soldiers were aware of journalists in the area that day, a clear line of sight between the sniper and Abu Akleh, and a field simulation that showed the reporter’s blue “Press” vest was fully visible from the shooter’s position. He said the precision of the gunfire supported the conclusion that the shots were intentional. “We had everything there,” he said.
Gabavics said that despite the evidence, his superior officer, Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, repeatedly deleted language pointing to Israel’s responsibility from the office’s report. Sources told The New York Times that Fenzel sought to preserve working relations with the Israeli military, which had stopped cooperating with U.S. officials in the past when displeased with their findings.
When the State Department released its official statement in July 2022, it said American officials “found no reason to believe” the shooting was intentional and concluded that it was “the result of tragic circumstances.” The statement closely echoed Israel’s position that Abu Akleh had been accidentally hit by Israeli fire during a chaotic exchange.
Gabavics said he and other officials “were just flabbergasted that this is what they put out.” He added, “The favoritism is always toward the Israelis. Very little of that goes to the Palestinians.”
Lt. Gen. Fenzel defended his decision, saying, “Ultimately, I had to make judgments based on the full set of facts and information available to me. I stand by the integrity of our work and remain confident that we reached the right conclusions.”
Other officials familiar with the review told The New York Times that the clash between Gabavics and Fenzel reflected deep divisions within the office about how to characterize the shooting. They said Gabavics was eventually removed from the case and warned that his stance risked damaging diplomatic ties.
The U.S. Security Coordinator’s office was tasked with assessing the killing after Israeli and Palestinian investigators refused to conduct a joint inquiry. The office is not an investigative body but served as a liaison between the two sides. Gabavics said his team examined the site of the shooting, took custody of the fatal bullet, and attended Israeli ballistic tests that compared it with a rifle said to have been used by an Israeli soldier.
The State Department said the bullet’s “extensive damage” made it impossible to conclusively determine which gun had fired it. The U.S. review also examined the findings of Israeli and Palestinian investigations but did not interview witnesses or conduct its own laboratory testing.
Gabavics said the scene reconstruction and evidence left little doubt that the sniper could see that Abu Akleh and her colleagues were members of the press. He noted that the shots were precise, striking her producer first, then her, and then a passerby who tried to help.
Independent reporting by The New York Times in 2022 supported parts of his account, finding that 16 shots were fired from the area of an Israeli military convoy and that no armed Palestinians were present near Abu Akleh at the time.
After the State Department’s public statement, outrage spread throughout the region. Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent and household name across the Middle East, had been covering Israeli military operations for decades. Her death sparked protests and global demands for accountability.
In November 2022, the FBI opened its own investigation into the killing under pressure from lawmakers and human rights advocates. Nearly three years later, no findings have been released, and the agency has not provided a timeline for completing its review.
Four current and former U.S. officials told The New York Times that they believed Gabavics acted out of concern for the truth, while others defended Fenzel’s approach as necessary to preserve diplomatic channels. Two officials said Fenzel’s reasoning included the need to maintain access to Israeli military cooperation while pushing for reforms privately.
For Gabavics, the handling of the case remains a moral burden. “This was the one that probably bothered me the most,” he said. “Because we had everything there.”
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