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Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh shot dead in West Bank

The veteran journalist was covering a raid on a Jenin refugee camp when she was shot in the head

Al-Jazeera
Image Courtesy:arabnews.com

Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran journalist best known for her reportage of the Israel – Palestine conflict, was shot dead, allegedly by Israeli security forces while covering a raid on a refugee camp in the city of Jenin in the Israel-controlled West Bank area on Wednesday. While the 51-year-old Palestinian journalist died from a gun-shot wound to the head, her colleague Ali al-Samoudi, was wounded in the back, reported Al Jazeera, the organisation for which them both worked.

In a formal statement condemning the killing, Al Jazeera said, “In a blatant murder, violating international laws and norms, the Israeli occupation forces assassinated in cold blood Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Palestine, Shireen Abu Akleh, targeting her with live fire early this morning, Wednesday, May 11, 2022, while conducting her journalistic duty, clearly wearing a press jacket that identifies her a journalist, covering the Israeli occupation forces storming of Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.”

The network minced no words while holding the Israelis accountable for their horrifying actions, “Al Jazeera Media Network condemns this heinous crime, which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty. Al Jazeera holds the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of Shireen. It also calls on the international community to condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for their intentional targeting and killing of Shireen.”

Akleh was a US citizen and had earned a reputation for her bold coverage of alleged excesses committed by Israeli forces upon Palestinians. Al Jazeera, in a moving tribute to their fallen colleague, traced her life saying, “Born in Jerusalem in 1971, Abu Akleh, who was a Christian, initially studied architecture before switching to journalism at Yarmouk University in Jordan. After graduating, she returned to Palestine and worked for several media outlets, including Voice of Palestine Radio and the Amman Satellite Channel. She joined Al Jazeera Media Network a year after it was launched in 1996, as one of the Qatar-based Arabic-language network’s first field correspondents and gained fame for her coverage of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.”

It further said, “As a television journalist, Abu Akleh covered events big and small, from the Gaza wars of 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2021 to the daring jailbreak of six Palestinians who escaped a maximum-security prison in northern Israel last September. She also covered regional news, including the war in Lebanon in 2006.”

Meanwhile, Israel has denied killing the journalist and Prime Minister Naftali Bennette issued a formal statement blaming Palestinians instead. “According to the information we have gathered, it appears likely that armed Palestinians — who were firing indiscriminately at the time — were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist,” said a tweet from the PM’s office.

But Akleh’s colleague who was with her when they were both shot at categorically denied this and said, that it was Israeli forces that fired at them and that there were no Palestinian resistance fighters at that specific spot. Akleh’s colleagues have also pointed out that she was wearing full protective gear including a bullet-proof vest and helmet and the angle of the shot was aimed at her head in a portion not covered by the helmet.

Meanwhile, there is growing condemnation of how the journalist was shot dead in cold blood. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) expressed strong condemnation of the assassination of Al-Jazeera the correspondent, stressing that “this crime constituted a blatant violation of international laws and norms.” The State of Qatar issued a statement condemning “in the strongest terms the assassination of the Israeli occupation forces, Al-Jazeera correspondent.”

But in what was arguably more shocking, Israeli forces allegedly stormed the house of the dead journalist where friends and colleagues had gathered to mourn her.

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