The Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh has been shot dead by the Israeli Army in Jenin (West Bank) in the early hours of Wednesday, according to the Qatari news network and the Palestinian Authority, which accuse the military of having "murdered her". cold blood”, while the Israeli government assures that his death is due “probably” to fire from Palestinian forces.
Another journalist, Ali Samudi, was also injured.
The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, has called for a "thorough investigation into the circumstances" of the death of Abu Akleh, a Palestinian who also held US nationality.
The European Union (EU) has supported this request and "strongly condemned the murder", through a spokesman for the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed his dismay at the journalist's death and has demanded an "independent and transparent investigation" into the circumstances in which it occurred.
"We are on the ground to try to verify the facts," he stressed in a tweet in which he claims that "impunity ceases."
Walid al Omari, head of the Al Jazeera delegation in Palestine, holds the bulletproof vest that Shireen Abu Akleh was wearing when he was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Jenin (West Bank) at dawn on Wednesday, according to the Qatari network.
The well-known reporter was covering an incursion by Israeli forces into the occupied Palestinian city. MOHAMAD TOROKMAN (REUTERS)
Christian priests pray over the body of Shireen Abu Akleh, surrounded by other journalists, in Jenin (West Bank), this Wednesday.
The Israeli government assures that his death is "probably" due to fire from Palestinian forces.
Another reporter, Ali Samudi, was injured in the same raid. Majdi Mohammed (AP)
Colleagues and friends of Shireen Abu Akleh mourn the journalist's body, draped with the Palestinian flag, at Al Jazeera's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday.
The veteran reporter for the Arabic news channel was 51 years old.
Abbas Momani (AP)
Arrival of the body of reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.
The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, has called for a "thorough investigation into the circumstances" of the death of Abu Akleh, a Palestinian who also held US nationality.
The EU has also called for an "independent and transparent" investigation POOL (REUTERS)
A woman lights a candle in front of a poster with the portrait of Shireen Abu Akleh, at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Wednesday. HAZEM BADER (AFP)
Several journalists watch the body of Shireen Abu Akleh in the city of Jenin, this Wednesday.
The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has blamed Israel for the death of the reporter, born in Jerusalem.
Earlier, a Palestinian spokesman had declared that Abu Akleh was "killed" by Israeli forces while reporting on the military operation in Jenin, where clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have intensified in recent weeks. Majdi Mohammed (AP)
Hundreds of Palestinians receive the body of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, upon her arrival in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday. MOHAMAD TOROKMAN (REUTERS)
Family and friends of Shireen Abu Akleh, at the reporter's home in Jerusalem, on Wednesday.
AMMAR AWAD (REUTERS)
The body of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, after being shot in Jenin (West Bank), this Wednesday, in a video capture.
AL JAZEERA (via REUTERS)
Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in a photo taken by a colleague from Al Jazeera, on June 12, 2021 in Jerusalem.- (AFP)
A Syrian artist paints a mural in tribute to reporter Shireen Abu Akleh on the wall of a destroyed house in Idlib, Syria. Anas Alkharboutli (Europa Press)
The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has blamed Israel for the death of the journalist, born in Jerusalem 51 years ago.
Earlier, a Palestinian spokesman had stated that Abu Akleh was "killed" by Israeli forces while reporting on the military operation in Jenin, where clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have intensified in recent weeks.
Al Jazeera maintains that its reporter has been murdered "in cold blood" by Israeli soldiers, in what it calls "a horrible crime that breaks international standards."
Abu Akleh was a well-known journalist who had worked for the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Radio Voice of Palestine, Amman Satellite Channel, Moftah Foundation and Radio Monte Carlo, until she came to Al Jazeera in 1997.
The Israeli version is the opposite.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that, based on the information Israel has gathered so far, "it seems likely that the Palestinian gunmen who were shooting indiscriminately at the time were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist." ”.
The official statement maintains that the Palestinian Authority has declined Israel's offer to carry out a joint autopsy on the reporter's body and includes what was previously stated by the Israeli army which, in its own official note on the event, assures that its soldiers fired on response to a "mass fire" by Palestinian militants in Jenin.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has announced that its country will carry out a "thorough investigation" into the death of Abu Akleh, in which it urged Palestine to collaborate.
At the time of her death, the reporter was wearing a bulletproof vest identified with the word “press” and her helmet, but a bullet hit her below the ear, an unprotected area.
Journalists accompany the body of the Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, this Wednesday at the Jenin hospital (West Bank). JAAFAR ASHTIYEH (AFP)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for an independent international investigation into the journalist's death.
"RSF is not satisfied with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's proposal that his country participate in a joint investigation into the circumstances of the journalist's death," RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said on Twitter. .
"An independent international investigation must be launched as soon as possible," he added.
RSF is disappointed by Israeli Foreign Minister @yairlapid's proposal that his country take part in a joint investigation into the circumstances of the journalist's death: an independent international investigation must be launched.
– Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) May 11, 2022
"Cold-blooded"
The journalist wounded in the back in the shooting, Ali Samudi, of the
Al Quds
newspaper , who is stable in a Jenin hospital, has accused the Israeli forces of "opening fire suddenly" against the group of informers: "No they asked us to leave or stop [filming].
We were shot.
One bullet hit me and another hit Shireen [Abu Akleh].
They killed her in cold blood,” Samudi told Reuters.
Another of the reporters present during the shooting, Mujahed al Saadi, corroborated this story, in statements to the same news agency.
Al Saadi explained that the shots were deliberate and stated, like his wounded colleague, that the group of professionals had chosen to position themselves at "a point where there were no clashes" between the Palestinians and the Israeli military.
He also confirmed that the journalists had identified themselves as such.
“Within seconds [after entering the Jenin refugee camp], the first shot was fired.
I told my colleagues: 'We are being shot at'.
I turned around and saw Shireen on the ground and Shatha Hanaysheh [another journalist] hiding under a tree and screaming.
The shooting continued for more than three minutes against the [information] teams.
Ali [Samudi] was injured but he was able to cross the street and get to safety.
The shots continued.
I took refuge in a stairwell at the cement factory as the shooting continued.
The last person the sniper could see was our colleague Shatha.
The shooting at her continued while she was standing under the tree, and we were unable to give Shireen first aid.
They also shot the young men who were in the street and who were trying to get Shireen out.
Abu Akleh's death comes almost a year after the destruction of the Jala tower, where the offices of the Qatari channel in the Gaza Strip were located.
The building was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike during the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel.
In late April, Palestinian Lufti Labadi, 18, was also killed by Israeli fire, four days after being hit by a bullet during another raid in the Jenin area.
In the last month, the Israeli security forces have intensified the raids and what they define as "anti-terrorist operations" throughout the West Bank, and in particular in the Jenin area, in response to the wave of attacks that Israel has suffered, a total of six since the end of March, in which 18 people have died.
Some thirty Palestinians have been killed during these operations, some of them unarmed civilians with no links to Palestinian militias, and dozens have been arrested.
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