Short Project
The present study in critical discourse analysis (henceforth CDA) aims to scrutinise the linguistic strategies utilised by two distinct news outlets in their coverage of the same event, with the aim to discern how these linguistic choices reflect their respective ideological stances. The articles in question pertain to the death of Hind Rajab and her family, as reported in articles from (a) The Times of Israel (henceforth TToI) and (b) Al Jazeera (henceforth AJ). Employing Fairclough’s (1989) three-level model of CDA, which encompasses text, discourse practice, and sociocultural practice, this analysis will progress through these dimensions sequentially. Subsequently, a critical evaluation of CDA will be presented, considering existing academic critiques of the CDA methodology, as well as the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the conducted analysis.
To provide a theoretical basis, CDA examines discourse as a social practice aimed at comprehending the influence wielded by language within society. Its primary objective is to uncover the mechanisms through which dominant forces shape narratives that align with their agendas, whether conveyed orally or in writing (Lombardi, 2018, pg. 17). Simultaneously, it serves as a tool to reveal the latent ideological perspectives inherent within the text. As a methodological approach, CDA entails a critical examination of textual material to discern its impact on, or susceptibility to influence from, societal dynamics.
Starting with the textual analysis, it is imperative to acknowledge the prevailing ideological orientation evident in the TToI article, which appears to be inclined towards a pro-Israel/pro-IDF perspective. This inclination is covertly discernible from the headline, which encapsulates the essence of the ensuing article (Mayr et al., pg. 128). In contrast, the AJ article presents a distinct ideological orientation, notably leaning towards an anti-IDF viewpoint. This is primarily distinguished by the prevalence of passive structure in the TToI headline, contrasting with AJ’s utilisation of an interrogative approach.
- Body of Gaza girl found days after recordings emerged of her pleas for help under fire Remains of six-year-old Hind Rajab, family members and rescue workers are recovered, allegedly after they were killed by Israeli fire; IDF has no immediate comment.
- Hind Rajab: Were Israeli troops around where the six-year-old was killed?
Al Jazeera has analysed the final hours of a 6-year-old who begged to be rescued as Israeli tanks closed in on her.
(a)’s sentence’s object is designated as the “Body of Gaza girl,” which acts as the recipient of the action “found.” Nevertheless, there exists an omission of the agent phrase, indicating an agentless passive construction within the headline. The application of the passive voice in this context possibly doesn’t function at concealing the agency, as readers can infer who found the body. By positioning the pre-modified noun phrase “Body of Gaza girl” as the sentence’s subject, the writer directs readers’ attention towards the girl rather than the circumstances surrounding her death. Although this could have been a deliberate choice to underscore the discovery of the girl, the agentless passive construction employed here might also serve to obfuscate the causality of her death (Fairclough, 2013, pg. 104). Moreover, by rendering the girl ageless and nameless in the headline, and by omitting the possessive instead of writing “Gaza girl’s body,” it can be interpreted as dehumanising or creating detachment between the reader and the girl.
This stands in stark contrast with the objectivity observed in headline (b). The interrogative form is presumed to be rhetorical, with the expected answer being affirmative, given that the subsequent article provides corroborative information aligned with the rhetorical query. Unlike (a), the agent “Israeli troops” is explicitly stated, with the patient “Hind Rajab” being the recipient of the action ‘killing’ denoted by the agent. Additionally, naming the patient and appending the adjective phrase “six-year-old” achieves the opposite effect of headline (a), thereby humanising Hind.
A similar phenomenon and impression emerge in the body of the texts, particularly through the mention of Hind’s cousin, Layan, as the articles diverge in their portrayal of her age. The TToI article employs the adjective “teenager” to modify “Layan,” while AJ opts for the adjective phrase “15-year-old.” While these adjectives may convey a similar impression, the former places Layan in a broader age bracket, spanning from thirteen to nineteen years old, thus offering less precision compared to “15-year-old.” AJ’s choice conveys a sense of specificity, emphasising her early stage of adolescence. Conversely, TToI’s choice in terminology may be interpreted as an attempt to adultify Layan to avoid ascribing innocence and vulnerability to her (Davis, 2022, pg. 5). This interpretation aligns with the existing phenomenon of adultification of Palestinian children, which functions as justification to perpetrate violence against them (Spitka, pg. 122).
Additionally, Mayer et al (pg. 5) contend that the minutiae of a text’s linguistic composition can reveal an ideological perspective. This phenomenon is evident in both articles, particularly that by AJ, through the employment of reporting verbs. For instance, when reporting the IDF’s response to allegations of involvement in Hind’s death, “denied” is utilised:
Israel’s army denied this on Saturday […].
While this verb could merely convey the sense of what was said (Caldas-Coulthard, 2002, pg. 295), AJ subsequently employed the verb “claims”.
Here’s the whole story, what Israel claims and how Al Jazeera investigators put Israeli tanks at the scene of the killing.
As per Caldas-Coulthard (pg. 295), the author distances themselves from the reported content by selecting the specific reporting verb “claim” to characterise the report. However, given the article’s subsequent evidence of IDF falsehoods, it becomes evident that the verb was chosen to signify the author’s disagreement with the IDF’s assertions (pg. 295). Furthermore, according to Mayer et al (pg. 5), the verb is considered more tenuous and diminishes the persuasiveness of Israel’s denial. This pattern is observed twice more in the article:
The statement went on to claim that medics are moving without restriction throughout the Gaza Strip […].
Authorities denied the May 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh for several months before admitting that Israeli gunfire had killed the veteran journalist, claiming it was “not intentional.”
Mayer et al’s (pg. 5) contention exemplified here. Suggesting that a text’s linguistic structure serves as discourse, favouring specific ideological stances while diminishing others, thereby linking linguistic choices in a text with its ideological orientation. TToI’s article, the use of reporting verbs suggests a seemingly neutral stance compared to AJ. For instance, the verb “said” is utilised, as seen in the sentence:
Another of Hind’s uncles, Sameeh Hamadeh, said the car was peppered with bullet holes.
However, when addressing the IDF’s response to casualties, “maintained” is employed:
During the course of the war, the Israeli military has maintained it makes many efforts to avoid civilian casualties […].
In the context of the article, this instance of reported speech asserts the IDF endeavour to prevent civilian casualties, implying that such casualties are undesired yet inevitable. Unlike more neutral verbs such as “say” or “add,” the utilisation of “maintain” conveys a nuanced stance, encompassing notions of insistence and defence. This may indicate the author’s implicit alignment with or endorsement of the IDF’s assertion. This stands in contrast to AJ’s assertion that the IDF deliberately targets Palestinians, evident in their repeated use of ‘kill’ in connection with Israel’s actions towards Hind, her family, and Palestinians. While Mayer et al. (pg. 129) argue that repetition serves to heighten significance, in this instance, it may serve primarily to underscore the agents’ actions.
Additionally, while reporting verbs in TToI do not diminish other ideological perspectives, forms of “allege” appear to do so:
Remains […] are recovered, allegedly after they were killed by Israeli fire […].
[…] a six-year-old Palestinian girl who had begged Gaza rescuers to send help after being trapped by alleged Israeli military fire […].
The employment of “allegedly” and “alleged” here implies scepticism regarding the veracity of the narrative surrounding Hind’s purported intentional killing, thereby insinuating its potential falsehood. This implication is bolstered when considering that such language is not applied when IDF’s denial of involvement is discussed.
A more discernible indication of TToI’s ideological stance is expressed in their selection of terminology when addressing Hamas and their actions, whereas AJ refrains from mentioning Hamas altogether. When referring to Hamas, ‘terrorists’ is consistently employed either as a substantive noun or as a pre-modified noun “Hamas terrorists”, rather than, for instance, designating them as resistance fighters. To apply Fairclough’s assertion (pg. 95), the term ‘terrorist’ is imbued with ideological contention, yet TToI appears to assert it as ‘common sense.’ This phenomenon aligns with Fairclough’s concept of naturalisation, wherein prevailing ideologies within society are naturalised through discursive practices (pg. 76-77). When referencing Hamas’s actions, they are evidently depicted as the agents enacting the “killing” and “seizing” of Israelis, who are portrayed as the patients, “under a barrage of rockets.” Such vocabulary used to characterise Hamas’s “attack” is not mirrored in TToI’s portrayal of Israel’s offensive in, or on Gaza and Palestinians. By just analysing the excerpt below, this can be discerned:
Israel’s military has since overrun most of the Palestinian enclave under an intense bombardment in a conflict that has killed some 28,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities. These numbers cannot be independently verified and are believed to include over 10,000 members of Hamas’s military wing who were killed in battle and Gazans who were killed by misfired rockets.
When juxtaposing TToI portrayal of Hamas’s offensive against Israel with Israel’s actions toward Gaza, the latter appears markedly subdued and downplayed due to the choice of vocabulary. For instance, the depiction of Israel ‘overrunning’ Palestinians lacks the connotation of violence associated with Hamas’s actions of “killing” and “seizing” Israelis. Although the “killing” enacted against Palestinians is acknowledged, it is subsequently mitigated by attributing the claim of deaths to the “Hamas-run Gaza health authorities.” This is due to TToI’s characterisation of Hamas as terrorists, which raises doubts about the reliability of their reported numbers. The inclusion of the pre-modifier “over” within the noun phrase “10,000 members of Hamas’s military wing” further mitigates the numerical value of deaths. The minimisation of causalities seemingly renders them less relevant, potentially implying their sacrifice for the broader objective of fighting terrorism. Palestinian causalities are additionally minimised by the mention of “misfired rockets,” where the pre-modifier implies the causality of death being Hamas rather than Israel.
Comparatively analysing the implications and textual framing of the “barrage of rockets” versus “intense bombardment,” the former underscores a sudden and concentrated assault by labelled ‘terrorists,’ contrasting with the latter’s portrayal of a broader and more sustained military action, seemingly justified. This interpretation aligns with Spitka’s assertion (pg. 18) that Israeli’s perceive themselves as targeted by terrorism and rocket attacks, serving to validate the Israeli military’s crackdown on the Palestinian population.
In the excerpt, TToI also refers to Israel’s actions as a “conflict,” possibly employing a strategy of nominalisation. This labelling imbues the situation with a neutral tone, representing both sides on “an equal status of battle and confrontation” (Saidi, pg. 9). Furthermore, this may serve to mitigate the negative actions attributed to state actors, specifically the IDF, or to in-groups, in this instance, the Israelis (Dijk, 2015, pg. 474).
Furthermore, when Palestinian civilians are described, it is through the nominal forms: “civilian casualties,” and “human shields.” According to Saidi (pg. 6-7), this depiction of Palestinian civilians, through nominalisation, is done to diminish the gravity of their killing. The pre-modified noun “human shields” is especially noteworthy in highlighting TToI’s ideological standpoint, as Israel has justified its attacks against Palestinian civilians by accusing Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields (Spitka, 2023, pg. 123). The asserted analysis of these comparisons is consistent with Zaher’s assertions (2009, pg. 182), which posit that the portrayal of the killing of Palestinians in the newspapers is normalised. Furthermore, while Palestinian violence is criminalised, “Israeli violence is naturalised, justified and mitigated.”
A significant ideological indication present in both articles can be discerned from the quoted excerpts provided below.
- Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
- Israel’s relentless war on Gaza
The difference in the prepositions “with” and “on” yields distinct meanings. In the case of (a), it suggests that Israel exclusively engages in combat against Hamas, implying a parity of confrontation and violence between the adversaries. This implication is further reinforced by the representation of both Israel and Hamas as agents in the sentence. Conversely, (b) implies an asymmetry, portraying Israel as the dominant force exerting aggression upon Gaza and its inhabitants, who lack comparable capability for retaliation. This interpretation is reinforced by the active voice in (b), where Israel is depicted as the active agent waging war against the patient, Gaza. Contrarily, (a) merely suggests the geographical location of the conflict. The referent “war” in (b) is also specified by the addition of “relentless,” serving as an evaluative adjective. Consequently, this imparts a fixed meaning to the referent, aligning with the perspective of AJ (Mayer et al, pg. 131).
Considering intertextuality is a significant gauge for discourse practice, reported speech, a form of intertextuality, will be analysed to interpret the discursive practices within the articles’ textual production and consumption (Mayer, pg. 133).
Notably, AJ’s article contains a greater frequency of reported speech, direct and indirect, compared to TToI’s text. Within AJ’s text, eight instances of direct quotations are observed, including two instances where the Israeli army denies involvement in Hind’s death.
“It appears that … troops were not present near the vehicle or within firing range of the described vehicle in which the girl was found.”
“Also, given the lack of forces in the area, there was no need for individual coordination of the movement of the ambulance or another vehicle to pick up the girl.”
These quotations appear to have been included by AJ primarily to underscore the particularities of the statement made, intending to juxtapose it with additional direct quotations affirming the IDF’s participation in Hind’s death.
“They are firing at us; the tank is beside me.”
– Layan
“The tank is next to me. [It’s] coming from the front of the car.”
– Hind
“We heard gunfire, we couldn’t imagine [they] would fire at them.”
– Rana Faqih (PRCS official)
As observed, the first two examples directly challenge the Israel’s army’s claim, specifically in particularly regarding their proximity to the vehicle. This suggests that AJ’s selection of direct quotes may serve to create a sense of authenticity and credibility, aligning with Teo’s assertion that such an approach can be a potent ideological tool in shaping readers’ perceptions and interpretations of events (2000, pg. 18-19).
In contrast to AJ, TToI contains only three, comprising one from the PRCS and two from Hind. The former simply reports PRCS’s accusations against Israel’s army:
“The occupation deliberately targeted the Red Crescent crew despite prior coordination to allow the ambulance to arrive at the site to rescue Hind.”
From Hind, it covers her apprehensions:
“Come and get me.”
“I’m so scared, please come.”
Notably, the chosen quotation from Hind in AJ’s article diverges from those selected by TToI. Specifically, they offer distinct information and perceivably serve different functions. While AJ’s selection refutes Israel’s denial, TToI’s choices seem to prioritise highlighting Hind herself rather than the causality of her death. Caldas-Coulthard’s theory (pg. 298) on authors selectively reporting parts of an exchange based on their ideology could be pertinent here. Consequently, while also considering TToI applying contested terms to Hamas, their readership might interpret their discourse as rational and justifying.
While both news outlets exemplify online journalism with a global reach (Ferrucci & Perreault, 2020), they possess institutional characters that cater to distinct readerships. Both articles were produced amidst a conflictual climate stemming from the Israel-Hamas/Gaza war, ongoing since October 7th 2023, following Hamas’s incursions into Israel and the seizure of hostages. TToI’s piece aligns with publications leaning towards a pro-Israel or pro-IDF stance, focusing primarily on Hamas’s actions while downplaying Palestinian suffering caused by IDF. Notably, it disregards the IDF’s actions towards Palestinians pre- and post-October 7th and underscores Israeli casualties. Despite the comparingly low incidence of Israeli civilian casualties (Spitka, pg. 18), the article fuels anxiety induced by attacks and terrorism targeting Israeli civilians and infrastructure. Such framing in TToI’s article potentially exacerbates apprehensions and rationalises Palestinian fatalities.
Comparatively, AJ’s article takes on an anti-IDF stance. While referencing October 7th, it notably excludes mention of Hamas and their actions, instead focusing on the causality of Palestinian casualties since that date. This approach aligns with publications adopting an investigative approach to highlight falsehoods and actions by the IDF. It is likely tailored for audiences sharing similar ideological perspectives, potentially aiming to persuade readers to adopt corresponding viewpoints. This is accomplished by, again, emphasising the violence committed by the IDF and by humanising Palestinians by not mitigating their deaths.
Critically examining Fairclough’s CDA approach reveals both its strengths and weaknesses, as evidenced in the analysis conducted. Beginning with the latter, a notable weakness arises from the susceptibility to interpretive bias, where the interpretation of texts was influenced by personal ideological perspectives. This bias consequently was manifested by assuming the author’s intent behind specific linguistic choices, resulting in subjective interpretations. This underscores Widdowson’s assertion (1995, pg. 169) that CDA is inherently subjective, as individuals are predisposed to favour certain discourses and interpret texts through their ideological standing. As he further argues, CDA merely reflects the interpreter’s interpretive stance, offering only a partial interpretation rather than an analysis. Moreover, the conducted CDA, adhering to Fairclough’s approach and influenced by personal ideological biases, fails to acknowledge the possibility of alternative interpretations within the CDA discourse (Widdowson, pg. 169). He further argues that an analysis would entail demonstrating diverse interpretations and the language data that could support each perspective, a feature which he argues is lacking in CDA. Stubbs (1997) further criticises CDA for its lack of systematic text analysis and calls for a comparative approach utilising large, representative samples (Breeze, 2011, pg. 504). He emphasises the need for sounder methods to justify the obtained results, advocating for more detailed text analyses and comparative studies with corpora data (Stubbs, 1997, pg. 10). Additionally, an inherent weakness in the conducted CDA lies in the underdevelopment of discursive and social practices, though this could be attributed to lack of comprehension of Fairclough’s model
Conversely, the strengths of the CDA approach are manifested in its thorough textual analysis, scrutinising various linguistic features such as passive voice and reporting verbs. This critical interpretation of linguistic choices extends to ideological interpretations of specific language usage, such as the framing of conflicts and the portrayal of certain groups. This is owed to the model’s focus on linguistic signifiers, which enables interpreters to focus on the nuances of language (Janks, 1997, pg. 329).
Bibliography
Al Jazeera (2024). Hind Rajab: Were Israeli troops around where the six-year-old was killed?. Al Jazeera. Available from: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/10/body-of-6-year-old-killed-in-deliberate-israeli-fire-found-after-12-days
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Caldas-Coulthard, Carmen (2002). On reporting reporting: the representation of speech in factual and factional narratives. In: Coulthard, Malcolm (eds) Advances in Written Text Analysis. Taylor & Francis.
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Annex
The Times of Israel
Body of Gaza girl found days after recordings emerged of her pleas for help under fire
Remains of six-year-old Hind Rajab, family members and rescue workers are recovered, allegedly after they were killed by Israeli fire; IDF has no immediate comment
By REUTERS and TOI STAFF
10 February 2024
Relatives found the body on Saturday of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who had begged Gaza rescuers to send help after being trapped by alleged Israeli military fire, along with the bodies of five of her family members and two ambulance workers who had gone to save her.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society accused Israel of deliberately targeting the ambulance it sent to rescue Hind Rajab after she had spent hours on the phone with dispatchers begging for help with the sound of shooting echoing around.
“The occupation deliberately targeted the Red Crescent crew despite prior coordination to allow the ambulance to arrive at the site to rescue Hind,” the Red Crescent said in a statement.
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Red Crescent statement.
Family members found Hind’s body along with those of her uncle and aunt and their three children still in a car near a roundabout in the Tel al-Hawa suburb of Gaza City, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Another of Hind’s uncles, Sameeh Hamadeh, said the car was peppered with bullet holes.
The plight of Hind, revealed in harrowing audio clips of her terrified conversation with rescue workers 12 days ago, underlined the impossible conditions for civilians in the face of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel under a barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military has since overrun most of the Palestinian enclave under an intense bombardment in a conflict that has killed some 28,000 people, according to Hamas-run Gaza health authorities. These numbers cannot be independently verified and are believed to include over 10,000 members of Hamas’s military wing who were killed in battle and Gazans who were killed by misfired rockets.
During the course of the war, the Israeli military has maintained it makes many efforts to avoid civilian casualties, but that these are unavoidable as it fights against terrorists who are embedded within the civilian population and use civilians as human shields.
Israel has nevertheless faced mounting international criticism over the toll of dead and injured.
The audio clips released by the Red Crescent earlier this month recorded a call to dispatchers that was first made by Hind’s teenage cousin Layan Hamadeh, saying an Israeli tank was approaching, before shots rang out and she screamed.
Believed to be the only survivor, Hind stayed on the line for three hours with dispatchers, who tried to soothe her as they prepared to send an ambulance.
“Come and get me,” Hind was heard crying desperately in another audio recording. “I’m so scared, please come.”
After deciding it was safe to approach the area, the dispatchers sent an ambulance with two crew members, Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoon.
Contact was soon lost with both the ambulance team and Hind, leaving their families, colleagues and many around the world concerned about their fate.
Al Jazeera
Hind Rajab: Were Israeli troops around where the six-year-old was killed?
Al Jazeera has analysed the final hours of a 6-year-old who begged to be rescued as Israeli tanks closed in on her.
26 Feb 2024
An Al Jazeera investigation has shown three Israeli tanks around the car where a six-year-old girl was killed after hours of pleading for help.
However, Israel’s army denied this on Saturday, saying its troops were not in the area on January 29, the day Hind Rajab and her family were killed.
Here’s the whole story, what Israel claims and how Al Jazeera investigators put Israeli tanks at the scene of the killing:
What happened to Hind?
Hind’s story travelled around the world when a phone recording of what’s now understood to be her and her family’s final moments went viral on social media.
On the call, which lasted for about three hours, Hind begged rescue workers to come save her after the family’s car came under fire and she became the sole survivor, stranded inside with her dead relatives.
Two dispatchers with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) sent to save her were also killed.
The PRCS has accused Israel of deliberately targeting the medical team despite back and forth between the organisation and the army as the medics tried to get permission to evacuate Hind.
Hind and her cousins are just some of the thousands of children killed in Israel’s relentless war on Gaza in violation of international law. Nearly 30,000 people have died in Gaza since October 7.
What has Israel said?
According to a report by the Times of Israel, Israeli officials said an initial investigation showed that troops were not present in the Tal al-Hawa suburb of Gaza City on January 29 when Hind and five other family members were killed.
“It appears that … troops were not present near the vehicle or within firing range of the described vehicle in which the girl was found,” a statement from the Israeli army read.
The statement directly contradicts the evidence as recorded in the circulating phone call between the PRCS and Hind.
“Also, given the lack of forces in the area, there was no need for individual coordination of the movement of the ambulance or another vehicle to pick up the girl,” the statement said, which goes counter to PRCS’s statement that it had been working to coordinate with the Israeli army.
The statement went on to claim that medics are moving without restriction throughout the Gaza Strip, which goes against multiple accounts out of Gaza.
What did Al Jazeera find?
Sanad, Al Jazeera’s investigations unit, analysed phone records and satellite imagery to prove that there were Israeli troops near the car belonging to Hind’s family that day.
The vehicle, the investigation found, had been stopped by the Israeli military near a petrol station in Tal al-Hawa around early afternoon on January 29.
A phone call from Hind’s uncle to a relative in Germany triggered the PRCS intervention. Al Jazeera obtained messages between the relatives, time-stamping the last few hours of the deadly ordeal when Hind and one of her cousins, 15-year-old Layan, were still alive.
Layan, who was the first on the call with the PRCS, identified Israeli tanks near the car, saying: “They are firing at us; the tank is beside me.” Within minutes, a round of what sounded like gunfire went off and a screaming Layan went quiet.
When Hind picked up the phone and spoke to the PRCS, she also identified Israeli military vehicles near the family car. “The tank is next to me. [It’s] coming from the front of the car,” she said. Around three hours later, the connection with Hind was cut off.
Al Jazeera’s analysis of satellite images taken at midday on January 29 corroborated Hind and Layan’s accounts, and put at least three Israeli tanks just 270m (886 feet) from the family’s car, with their guns pointed at it.
When rescuers found the remains of Hind and her family on February 10, the car was riddled with bullet holes likely coming from more than one direction.
What happened to the ambulance?
Medics Yusuf Zeino and Ahmed al-Madhoun arrived at the scene around 6pm on January 29, after hours of the PRCS trying to get permission from the Israeli army.
“I’m nearly there,” Zeino told his colleagues as the ambulance edged closer to Hind. But the two rescue workers never got to her. “We heard gunfire, we couldn’t imagine [they] would fire at them,” Rana Faqih, the PRCS official who held the line with Hind, told Al Jazeera. After the gunfire, there was complete silence.
It was only 12 days later on February 10 that the remains of the two men were found, following the Israeli military’s withdrawal. The ambulance was destroyed and appeared to have been run over by a tank, according to Sanad’s analysis.
What next?
The United States, Israel’s number-one ally, has called for probes into the killing of Hind, her family, and the medics.
US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters: “We have asked the Israeli authorities to investigate this incident on an urgent basis.”
After the initial finding into Hind’s case was released on Saturday, Israeli officials told local reporters the investigation has been transferred to the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism for further analysis.
Similar Israeli investigations have not been straightforward. Authorities denied the May 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh for several months before admitting that Israeli gunfire had killed the veteran journalist, claiming it was “not intentional”.
