Killing of Al Jazeera reporter ‘deliberate’ IFJ chief says
EVIDENCE has emerged that Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead during an Israeli raid on the West Bank town of Jenin yesterday, was targeted deliberately, the head of the International Federation of Journalists said.
But the Israeli Defence Force insisted yesterday that Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian fire during the raid.
Abu Akleh’s fellow Al Jazeera journalist Nida Ibrahim said Abu Akleh was shot in the head. She died in hospital shortly after being admitted in critical condition.
Israel has blamed Palestinian gunmen for her death, but Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau chief Walid al-Omary said there had been no shooting by Palestinians.
“Testimony from journalists who were with her when she was killed point towards this being another deliberate and systematic targeting of a journalist. Yet again journalists, clearly identified wearing press vests, were targeted by Israeli snipers,” IFJ’s Anthony Bellanger said.
He added that Abu Akleh, one of the Qatari-based network’s first field correspondents, was not a threat and was only targeted to prevent her “bearing witness and telling the truth about the Israeli action in Jenin”.
He promised to add her murder to the case lodged against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate described Abu Akleh’s killing as an assassination. It said the journalists were moving through the streets of Jenin as a clearly identifiable group when snipers shot at them. There were no demonstrators nor exchange of fire.
Al Jazeera producer Ali Samoudi was shot in the back, and is in a stable condition. The Israeli army said it had launched an investigation into the incident.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted that Israel offered to carry out, with the Palestinians, “a joint pathological investigation into the sad death” of the journalist.
“Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we all have a responsibility to get to the truth,” Lapid said.
IDF spokesperson Brigadier-General Ran Kochav told Israel’s Army Radio that “all of the data indicate with a high degree of probability” that Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian fire. “But I say that cautiously,” he added.
A senior Israeli official, in a statement sent to reporters, said the army’s assessment was based on evidence that included video footage in which a gunman is heard saying in Arabic, “We hit a soldier, he’s on the ground”.
The Israeli military said no Israeli soldiers were injured during clashes in Jenin yesterday, and that the Palestinians in the video may have been referring to Abu Akleh.