JERUSALEM (AP) – Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shirin Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military attack in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin early Wednesday morning. The publisher and reporter who was injured in the incident blamed Israeli forces.
The Israeli army initially raised the possibility that Abu Aqle had been killed by roaming Palestinian fire, saying there were extremists in the area, but later Army Chief Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi withdrew from the statement, saying that “at this stage , we cannot determine whose fire she suffered and we regret her death. “
Abu Akleh, 51, was a respected and well-known figure in the Middle East, known for his coverage of the harsh realities of Israeli military occupation over the past three decades. Her death reverberated throughout the region and set fire to social media. She reports on the Arab channel of Al Jazeera and is also a US citizen. The State Department called her death an “insult to media freedom.”
She was fatally shot in the head early Wednesday on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp in the North West Coast. Its producer, Palestinian journalist Ali Samoudi, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back.
Al Jazeera accused Israel of “deliberately targeting and killing our colleague.” Palestinian journalists who were with Abu Aqlé at the time said they had reported the presence of Israeli troops and had not seen any extremists in the area.
The Israeli army said its forces were attacked with heavy fire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they returned fire. The military said it was investigating “and investigating the possibility of journalists being hit by Palestinian gunmen.”
Kocavi, the army chief, said a special investigation team had been formed.
Israel released a video of Palestinian gunmen shooting in the alley of the Jenin camp, later saying the video was intended to support his claim that Palestinians were shooting in the area.
However, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released its own video, which calls these allegations into question.
B’Tselem’s video was shot by one of his researchers, who was walking between the location of the extremists in the video and the place where Abu Akle was shot. He also provided coordinates for both locations. They looked about 300 meters (330 yards) apart and separated by walls and buildings.
Dror Sadot, a spokesman for the group, said its evidence showed that “there was no way” the shooting shown in the video had killed Abu Akle. “There is no clear shot,” she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett noted that the video heard a fighter shouting that a soldier was wounded. As no Israelis were injured, he said this suggested that armed men had shot a journalist instead.
Abu Aqla was born in Jerusalem and began working for Al Jazeera in 1997. She regularly reports from all Palestinian territories, making her a well-known face on television screens throughout the Arab world.
Samoudi, who worked as its producer, told the Associated Press that they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover the attack early Wednesday. He said they were all wearing protective equipment that clearly marked them as reporters, and they passed Israeli troops to find out the soldiers were there.
He said the first shot missed them, then a second shot, and a third killed Abu Akleh. He said there were no fighters or other civilians in the area – only reporters and the army. He said the military’s assumption that they had been shot by extremists was a “complete lie”.
The Qatari-based network, which has long strained relations with Israel, cut off its broadcast to announce her death. to our colleague. “
“We promise to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime and bring them to justice,” Al Jazeera said.
He aired a separate video showing Abu Akle lying motionless by the roadside against a wall while another journalist squatted nearby and a man shouted for an ambulance. Shooting is heard in the background. Both reporters were wearing blue bulletproof vests, clearly marked “PRESS.”
The video does not show the source of the shooting.
Shaza Hanaishe, another Palestinian journalist among reporters, also said there were no clashes or shootings in the immediate vicinity. She said that when the shots were fired, she and Abu Akleh ran to a tree to take shelter.
“I reached the tree before Shiren. She fell to the ground, “Hanaisheh told Al Jazeera. “Every time I reached out to Shiren, the soldiers shot at us.
Israel has said it has offered a joint investigation and autopsy with Palestinian authorities, who have rejected the offer.
The Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the occupied West Bank and is cooperating with Israel on security issues, has condemned what they say is a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.
Israel has carried out almost daily attacks in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks in Israel, many of them by Palestinians from Jenin. The city, and especially its refugee camp, has long been known as a bastion of armies.
Hundreds of Palestinians, including several masked gunmen, marched through Jenin in a funeral procession, carrying Abu Akle’s body draped with a Palestinian flag and a blue press vest. Her body was taken to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, before her burial in Jerusalem.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was heartbroken and strongly condemned the assassination of Abu Akle.
“The investigation must be immediate and thorough and those responsible must be held accountable. “Her death is an insult to media freedom everywhere,” he said.
Qatar, which finances Al Jazeera, has condemned the killing “most severely”.
The Arab League condemned the shooting and blamed Israel, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called the shooting a “heinous crime”.
In a separate incident Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said an 18-year-old man identified as Tair al-Yazuri had been shot and killed by Israeli forces near Ramallah. The military said Palestinians were throwing stones at an army post near a West Bank settlement and that soldiers responded with rubber bullets.
Israel conquered the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War, and the Palestinians want the territory to form a major part of their future state. Nearly 3 million Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli military rule. Israel has built more than 130 settlements in the West Bank, home to nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers who have full Israeli citizenship.
Israelis have long been critical of Al Jazeera’s coverage, but authorities generally allow its journalists to work freely. Another Al Jazeera reporter was briefly detained last year during a protest in Jerusalem and treated for a broken arm, which her employer blamed on police brutality.
Relations between Israeli forces and the media, especially Palestinian journalists, are strained. A number of Palestinian reporters were injured by rubber-coated or tear gas bullets as they covered demonstrations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Two Palestinian journalists were shot and killed by Israeli forces while filming violent protests on the Gaza border in 2018.
In November of that year, AP operator Rashid Rashid was protesting near the Gaza Strip when he was shot in the left ankle, apparently by Israeli fire. He was wearing protective clothing that clearly identified him as a journalist, and was standing with other journalists about 600 meters (660 yards) from the border when he was hit. The military has never acknowledged the shooting.
During last year’s war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, an Israeli air strike destroyed a building in Gaza City, home to the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Residents were warned to evacuate and no one was injured in the strike. Israel said Hamas was using the building as a command center, but did not provide evidence.
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Akram reported from Hamilton, Canada. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and Ilan Ben Zion and Ari Hazbun of Jerusalem.
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