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| Walid Al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s Palestine bureau Chief, holds the flak jacket that Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was wearing when she was killed by Israeli army gunfire |
An Al Jazeera reporter was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, with the news channel and a wounded colleague accusing Israel of killing her and Israelโs leader saying she may have been hit by Palestinian fire.
Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, a Palestinian-American, was wearing a press vest that clearly marked her as a journalist while reporting in the city of Jenin, the Qatar-based outlet said. She was covering the latest in intensified military incursions in the West Bank launched amid deadly Arab street attacks in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in a statement, said that according to information Israel has gathered so far, โit appears likely that armed Palestinians โ who were firing indiscriminately at the time โ were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist.โ
The Palestinian health ministry said she had been hit in the head by gunfire. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Al Jazeera described her death as blatant, cold-blooded murder by Israeli forces.
โVery said to learn of the death of American and Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,โ Tom Nides, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, wrote on Twitter. โI encourage a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death and the injury of at least one other journalist today in Jenin.โ
Israeli prime minister Bennett said the Palestinian Authority had rejected an Israeli offer to conduct a joint autopsy.
Ali Smoudi, a Palestinian journalist wounded alongside Abu Akleh, said Israeli forces โsuddenly opened fireโ at them during the operation.
โThey didnโt ask us to leave and they didnโt ask us to stop (filming). They fired at us. One bullet hit me and another hit Shireen. They killed her in cold blood,โ Smoudi, treated at a hospital in Jenin, told Reuters.
In a statement, the military said its troops had shot back after coming under โmassive fireโ in Jenin.
Israeli military spokesman Ran Kochav told Army Radio that Abu Akleh was close to a group of armed Palestinians who had been firing โimpreciselyโ.
Asked about the militaryโs remarks, Smoudi said: โThere were no resistance fighters near us.โ
A U.S. embassy spokesperson in Jerusalem said Abu Akleh had covered issues in the Middle East and internationally for more than two decades and was โdeeply respected by many Palestinians and others around the worldโ.
Qatarโs deputy foreign minister, on Twitter, said Qatar โcondemns in the strongest terms (the journalistโs) assassination by Israeli occupation forcesโ.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian during clashes near the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. There was no immediate Israeli comment.
REUTERS
