Al Jazeera’s journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead on Wednesday by Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank while she was covering Israeli army raids in the city of Jenin.
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed Abu Akleh’s death and mentioned that the second reporter, Ali Samodi was wounded. Samodi works for the Jerusalem-based Quds newspaper.
According to Al Jazeera, the reporter was hit by a live bullet while the videos of the happening also showed that she was shot in the head.
A Palestinian functionary said that Shireen had been “assassinated” by Israeli army while reporting on a raid in the city of Jenin, where army raids have intensified in recent weeks as violence has surged.
However, in response, the Israeli military claimed that its troops had shot back after coming under “massive fire” in Jenin and that “there is a possibility, now being looked into, that reporters were hit — possibly by shots fired by Palestinian gunmen”.
Soon after the news was reported, fellow journalists, politicians and human rights activists took to Twitter expressing their condolences and demanding justice for the reporter.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the “assassination” of the journalist at the “hands of Israeli forces”.
“Silencing voices of those who tell stories of oppressed people is part of a deliberate strategy employed by Israel and India in Palestine and Occupied Kashmir,” he said in a tweet.
Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot said, “Israeli occupation forces assassinated our beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while covering their brutality in Jenin this morning. Shireen was most prominent Palestinian journalist and a close friend. Now we will hear the “concerns” of the UK govt & the international community.”
The US envoy to the UN said the killing of Abu Akleh must be “investigated transparently”.
“We’re encouraging both sides to participate in that investigation so that we can get down to why this happened,” US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.