Veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, was killed Wednesday morning during an Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp. She was reportedly shot in the head and evacuated to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Abu Akleh, a native of Jerusalem, had covered Israel and the West Bank for the state-owned Qatari network for 25 years.
The Al Jazeera network blamed Israel for the killing. “We condemn the terrible crime meant to prevent media outlets from their reporting,” Al Jazeera said in a statement. “We hold the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the murder of our colleague and demand that the international community condemn the killing of Shareen Abu Akleh.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also blamed Israel for the death of the reporter.
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The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed Abu Akleh’s death and said that a second reporter, Ali Samodi, had been wounded.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating the incident. The military said in a statement that soldiers entering Jenin came under “massive fire” and shot back, and that “there is a possibility, now being looked into, that reporters were hit – possibly by shots fired by Palestinian gunmen.”
“We call on Palestinians to join us in an investigation including by a coroner,” the Israeli military said, but added that thus far the offer has been refused.
Later, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett released a statement saying that “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.”
The Israeli prime minister said that in a video taken during the incident, Palestinians can be heard boasting, “We hit a soldier; he’s lying on the ground,” but that no Israeli soldier had been injured, suggesting that Palestinian gunmen had mistaken the journalist for a soldier and shot her.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry released the video on its Twitter feed.