Al-Jazeera journalist fatally shot while covering raids in West Bank, outlet says
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also blamed Israeli forces for the journalist’s death.
“Shireen Abu Akleh contributed to forming the memory of an entire generation & telling the Palestinian story to the world,” he said in a tweet. “Shireen was killed by the Israeli occupation while documenting their horrific crimes against our people. My sincere condolences to her family and colleagues.”
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem confirmed to NBC News that Abu Akleh was an American citizen. In a tweet, U.S. ambassador to Israel Tom Nides called for a “thorough investigation” into her death.
The Israeli military said that its forces came under attack and returned fire while conducting “counterterrorism activity to apprehend terrorist suspects in the Jenin Refugee Camp.” It said it was investigating “and looking into the possibility that journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen.”
Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin.
In a statement published on Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that “it appears likely that armed Palestinians — who were firing indiscriminately at the time — were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist.”
Shireen Abu Akleh was well-known for her coverage of the Palestinians.Salah Malkawi / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
His office said Israel offered Palestinians a “joint pathological analysis and investigation, which would be based on all of the existing documentation and findings, in order to get to the truth.” It said that so far, that offer had been refused.
“Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we all have a responsibility to get to the truth,” Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid wrote in a separate tweet, also calling for a joint probe.
In the meantime, he said: “Israel’s security forces will continue to operate wherever necessary to prevent terrorism and the murder of Israelis.”
NBC News has contacted the Palestinian Authority for comment.
Ali Samoudi, another Palestinian journalist, was hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back.
He told The Associated Press that he was working as Abu Akleh’s producer, with the pair among a group of reporters who went to cover the raid on Wednesday morning. Samoudi said the group were all wearing protective gear that clearly identified them as reporters, and that there were no militants or other people in the area at the time of the shooting.
Abu Akleh’s body is expected to be taken to Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, before heading to Jerusalem for burial.
Her death comes amid weeks of escalating violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, including the recent killing of three Israeli civilians in an axe attack last week and an order by Israel’s high court to expel Palestinians living in an area of the occupied West Bank.
It also comes as President Joe Biden prepares to visit Israel next month, his first since taking office.
The Associated Press, Raf Sanchez, Paul Goldman and Lawahez Jabari contributed.