Al Jazeera journalist killed while covering an Iraeli raid in West Bank
A journalist for Al Jazeera has been shot dead while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin.
The broadcaster and a reporter hurt in the incident blamed Israeli forces, who said they are investigating.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a wellknown Palestinian female reporter for the broadcaster’s Arabic language channel and a US citizen, died soon after being hit by a bullet.
Ali Samoudi, another Palestinian journalist, was hospitalised in a stable condition after being shot in the back.
The Qatar-based network interrupted its broadcast to announce Ms Abu Akleh’s death.
In a statement flashed on its channel, it called on the international community to “condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague”.
“We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime, and bring them to justice,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.
The Israeli military said its forces came under attack from heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin and fired back.
The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen”.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that based on the information they had already gathered, “there is a considerable chance that armed Palestinians, who fired wildly, were the ones who brought about the journalist’s unfortunate death”.
Israeli officials pointed to video footage in which Palestinian gunmen can be seen racing through a narrow street, with one of them shouting that a soldier has been wounded.
The officials say no Israelis were hurt in the incident, indicating the gunmen shot a journalist instead.
A separate video aired by Al Jazeera shows gunfire ringing out in an open area. Ms Abu Akleh can be seen lying on the side of a road as another journalist crouches nearby and a man screams for an ambulance. It was unclear if the two videos were shot at the same location.
Both reporters were wearing blue flak jackets clearly marked with the word “Press”.
Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid said it proposed a joint pathological investigation into the reporter’s death to the Palestinian Authority, which has refused the offer.
“Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we all have a responsibility to get to the truth,” he tweeted.
The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, tweeted that he was “very sad” to learn of Ms Abu Akleh’s death and called for a “thorough investigation”.
The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters, condemned what it said was a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.
Ms Abu Akleh, 51, was born in Jerusalem. She began working for Al Jazeera in 1997 and regularly reported on-camera from across the Palestinian territories.
Mr Samoudi, who was working as her producer, said they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover the raid yesterday.