Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead while she was covering a raid by Israeli forces in Jenin in the Occupied Territories. Shireen was one of the best know Palestinian journalist. Al Jazeera accused to Israeli forces of deliberately targeting their journalists. Another journalist, Ali Samodi was also shot and injured.
A fellow journalist, Shatha Hanaysha from Quds News Network said, “I could have been directly shot too. Even after she fell to the ground the fire did not stop and none of us were able to reach her. A guy was finally able to reach us; he helped me and started pulling her. We were a group wearing press gear, and Shireen was even wearing the helmet. So it is obvious that the one who shot her meant to hit an exposed part of her body. This is an assassination.”
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed Abu Akleh’s death and said a second reporter, the Al Jazeera producer Ali Samodi, was wounded. “We were there to cover the events in Jenin camp. All of a sudden [the Israelis] opened fire at us, they didn’t ask us to leave or stop. The first bullet hit me, the second one hit Shireen … There were no resistance fighters around us. If there were, we wouldn’t have been in that area,” Samodi told the New Palestinian from hospital.
The Israelis claimed she was shot by Palestinian gunmen.