Al Jazeera Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh Shot Dead While Covering Israeli Military Operation In West Bank
(CNN)Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday.
The Palestinian health ministry said she was shot in the head by a live bullet, and confirmed her death shortly afterwards. Abu Akleh’s producer, Ali Al-Samudi, was also shot and is in stable condition, the ministry said.
Al Jazeera has accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting and killing Abu Akleh, 51 — one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists — and called on the international community to condemn the killing and hold Israel accountable.
The circumstances surrounding her death are unclear. Three eyewitnesses told CNN that the journalists were shot by Israeli troops and that there were no Palestinian militants next to the journalists at the time.
“The Israeli army shot us,” said Samudi, the producer who was shot and injured. “There was no Palestinian gunman in the place.”
The Israel Defense Forces said its security forces had been operating in the area “to arrest suspects in terrorist activities,” and both Palestinian suspects and Israeli forces were firing at the time.
“As part of the activity in the Jenin refugee camp, suspects fired heavily at the force and threw explosives. The force responded by firing. Hits were detected,” the IDF said. “The possibility that journalists were hit, possibly by Palestinian gunfire, is being investigated. The event is being examined.”
In a subsequent statement, IDF Chief of Staff, Major General Aviv Kochavi seemed to soften that stance, saying: “Palestinians fired extensively at our forces, firing wildly and indiscriminately in every direction. Unlike the Palestinians, IDF soldiers carry out professional and selective firing … at this stage it is not possible to determine from which shot she was hit.”
Kochavi added that a special team would be investigating the incident.
The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in the West Bank after a series of attacks targeting Israelis has left 18 people dead. Several of the attackers were from the Jenin area.
Before Kochavi’s statement about it being “not possible” to determine who shot Abu Akleh Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett appeared to point the finger at Palestinian crossfire.
“According to the information we’ve gathered, it appears likely that armed Palestinians — who were indiscriminately firing at the time — were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist,” the prime minister said in a statement Wednesday.
Israeli officials, including the IDF and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, released a video showing a man firing down an alley and people running in the Jenin Refugee Camp, shouting about a soldier being hit.
“No IDF soldier was injured, which increases the possibility that Palestinian terrorists were the ones who shot the journalist,” Bennett said.
An Israeli military spokesperson said that they caused two Palestinian casualties in clashes with militants on Wednesday morning. The Ministry of Health and Jenin’s main hospital said there were only two Palestinian casualties from the clashes in Jenin — Abu Akleh and Samudi.
Israel’s military did not disclose the identity of the people they hit, who they claimed were “militants.”