Israel rejected Wednesday, September 22 to change its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank, despite US pressure to do so as part of accountability steps for the brutal murder of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

This came a day after the Israeli Military published a probe concluded there was a “high probability” that an Israeli soldier “accidentally” shot dead Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, while she was covering an Israeli military incursion into Jenin in May.

In this regard, Israel’s Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, said that he heard US calls to prosecute Israeli occupation forces following the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, adding “But to be clear, I will not allow an Israeli soldier that to be prosecuted just to receive applause from abroad,”.

Yair Lapid’s statement came in a response to the remarks made by US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, who called on the US to continue to put pressure on Israel to examine its rules of engagement, protect journalists and prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Lapid rebuffed these calls saying “No one will dictate our rules of engagement to us when we are the ones fighting for our lives.”

Shireen Abu Akleh, Al Jazeera correspondent for more than 25 years, was fatally shot dead in the head while she was covering a military raid into Jenin wearing a bulletproof vest marked “PRESS”,  helmet and standing in a scrum of journalists. 

Abu Akleh’s family along with Al Jazeera denounced the last Israeli probe which found that an Israeli soldier likely killed Shireen in an errant fire. 

In spite of the fact that numerous investigations conducted by the New York Times, AP, CNN, and the United Nations confirmed there was a “high possibility” that Shireen Abu Akleh was shot by one of the Israeli occupation soldiers.

Israel has been conducting daily military raids into the occupied West Bank and targeting the Palestinians for months now despite the US pressure on Israeli forces to change their rules of engagement.