Shireen Abu Aqleh, a correspondent for Al Jazeera in Israel and the Palestinian territories, was killed this morning by a bullet to the head during an Israeli army raid in Jenin, north of the West Bank.
The journalist died after a bullet hit her in the head, while another fellow journalist, Ali al-Samudi, was shot in the back and his condition is stable, according to the ministry. Both journalists wore their vests identified as press and she had been working for Al Jazeera since the start of the Second Intifada.confirmed the medium.
Abu Aklé was born in Jerusalem in 1971. Aged 51, he was very popular in the Arab world after decades covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She had been working for Al Jazeera since 1997, being one of the first correspondents for the media outlet. Friends and colleagues of hers described her as a kind and brave reporter, as could be seen in several messages on social networks.
He had dual Palestinian-American citizenship. He was in a refugee camp in Jenin covering clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, who have fired on young people and press teams in the area, according to the Maan news agency.
The event has been condemned by Al Jazeera, the Palestinian Authority and Qatar, which has stressed that “the occupation must be held accountable for this horrible crime and bring those responsible to international justice.” For its part, the United Nations has demanded “an immediate and exhaustive investigation and that those responsible be held accountable.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF, according to its acronym in English) have highlighted that “the possibility that the journalists were injured, possibly by Palestinian gunfire, is being investigated,” according to their official Twitter profile.
However, the Palestinian Ministry of Health has attributed the death of the journalist, who was one of the network’s first West Bank correspondents, to Israeli forces in a message on its official Facebook profile.
The European Union has condemned the murder of veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. “It is unacceptable that she attacks journalists while they are doing their job. Journalists covering conflict situations must be guaranteed safety and protection at all times,” a spokesman for the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said of the murder of Akleh, who died of a gunshot to the head.
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