The Palestinian Health Ministry said on May 11 that a journalist from Al Jazeera, identified as Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by the Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank. This news was reported by a Qatar-based news channel and the health ministry. She died while reporting.
Akleh was reporting on the army raid in the city of Jenin when she was shot dead, says Al Jazeera. She was a household name across the Middle East. The Israeli military also said that the reporter may have been hit while a clash took place between the troops and Palestinian gunmen.
She was reportedly hit by the live bullet on Wednesday and was then rushed to the hospital in critical condition. According to Al Jazeera, she was wearing the press vest when she was killed. They also reported that the circumstances of her death are unclear but the videos that have surfaced show that Akleh was shot in the head, says Nida Ibrahim of Al Jazeera.
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Shireen Abu Akleh Dead
Ibrahim said, "What we know for now is that the Palestinian Health Ministry has announced her death. Shireen Abu Akleh, was covering the events unfolding in Jenin, specifically an Israeli raid the city, which is north of the occupied West Bank, when she was hit by a bullet to the head," adding, "As you can imagine, this is a shock to the journalists who have been working with her."
In the conflict, another journalist was wounded and they are in a stable condition. It was also a journalist from the same news organisation named Ali Samoudi, who was shot by a live bullet in the back. While saying that they had come under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives in Jenin, the Israeli military has said that they are "investigating the event."
Akleh was one of the news organisation's first field correspondents, who had joined the network in 1997. According to her Twitter, she had been covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 15 years. She was a prominent figure in the Arabic news service of the news organisation.