Israeli army says Palestinians behind journalist’s death

JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army said Wednesday a veteran Al Jazeera journalist was killed by Palestinian fire in the West Bank.

“Initial estimates show that…Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian gunmen in Jenin camp while doing a news coverage,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed in a tweet.

Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead while covering an Israeli raid in the city of Jenin Wednesday morning. Another journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi, was shot in the back, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Doha-based Al Jazeera channel accused Israeli forces of deliberately assassinating its reporter “in cold blood.” It termed the killing a “heinous crime, which intends to only prevent the media from conducting their duty.”

Al-Samoudi earlier said that Abu Akleh and other journalists came under fire near UNRWA schools in Jenin while covering the Israeli raid.

“We were directly targeted by the occupation forces,” he said in statements carried by the state news agency Wafa.

“The place where the journalists were present was clear to the occupation soldiers, and there were no armed men or clashes in that area,” he added.

Videos on social media platforms showed people transferring the Al Jazeera journalist in a car, while she was wearing a press vest.

An earlier Israeli military statement said army forces launched a campaign in the Jenin refugee camp to arrest wanted Palestinians, suggesting that the journalist may have been shot by Palestinians as they clashed with Israeli forces, which “responded with fire, without causing any casualties."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier condemned Abu Akleh's killing, saying it was an “assassination" by Israeli forces and held Israel fully responsible for her death.

Abu Akleh was born in Jerusalem in 1971 and holds a BA in journalism and media from Yarmouk University in Jordan.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar