Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, one of the best-known journalists from the pan-Arab al-Jazeera television channel, was killed on Wednesday morning by Israeli army fire while she was covering armed clashes in the occupied West Bank, according to witnesses, Palestinian officials and his employer.
A woman in her fifties
The Palestinian Ministry of Health and the al-Jazeera channel announced the death of this journalist by a shooting of the Israeli army during these clashes in Jenin, stronghold of the Palestinian armed factions in the north of the occupied West Bank. An AFP photographer on the spot also reported the Israeli army shooting and saw the body of the reporter who was wearing a bulletproof vest on which the word “press” is written.
Palestinian, Christian and in her fifties, Shireen Abu Akleh had worked at “La Voix de la Palestine”, Radio Monte-Carlo, before joining the al-Jazeera channel, where she made herself known through the Middle East for his reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Another journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, injured during these clashes, accused the Israeli army of having opened fire on the journalists. “We were on our way to cover the army operation when they opened fire on us (…) A bullet hit me. The second bullet hit Shireen,” he said on leaving hospital.
A bullet “in the face”
In a statement, al-Jazeera claimed that Shireen Abu Akleh was killed “in cold blood” by Israeli forces. “Al-Jazeera condemns this heinous crime, which aims to prevent the media from doing their job,” said the Qatari channel, calling on the international community to “hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for intentionally targeting and killed Shireen”, who was shot “in the face” according to the Qatari authorities.
For its part, the Israeli army said in a statement that it had carried out operations in the Palestinian camp of Jenin and other areas of the West Bank in the past few hours in order to “apprehend people suspected of terrorism”.
