Israel has reached a huge financial settlement with the family of James Miller, a British cameraman killed by Israeli troops in 2003, an official confirmed Sunday.
The Israeli Haaretz daily reported that Israel paid James Miller's family 1.5 million euros ( $2.2 million), a figure that Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said was "more or less" correct.
A statement from Miller's family spokesman confirmed that a settlement has been reached, adding that "this is the nearest they are likely to get to an admission of guilt by the Israeli government."
In May, 2003, Miller, 34, was in the Gaza-Egypt border town of Rafah shooting footage for a documentary about the impact of violence on children in the region, when he was shot and killed by Israeli gunfire.
The family said the killing was caught on film by another cameraman. The footage showed that the cameraman and his colleagues, who were leaving the home of a Palestinian family in the Rafah refugee camp after dark, carried a white flag and called out to let troops know they were British journalists. As they walked toward an Israeli armored personnel carrier, Miller was hit by gunfire.
The Israeli army officer who fired the shot was cleared by a court martial last year, despite a military court recommendation that harsh disciplinary action be taken against him. In April 2006, a British coroner's inquest concluded that Miller's death was murder.
A British Foreign Office spokeswoman welcomed the agreement and said if it was satisfactory to the family, the British government would consider the case closed. She spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.