The Palestinian Health Ministry stated that an Al Jazeera journalist was killed by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
Shireen Abu Akleh, aged 51, was shot in the city of Jenin, according to a ministry statement.
The ministry added that another journalist, Ali Al-Samoudi, was shot in the back.
Adding that all were wearing helmets and vests for journalists, al-Samoudi said he was accompanied by Abu Akleh and a group of journalists in the vicinity of UNRWA schools near Jenin camp.
Al-Samoudi said in statements cited by the state news agency that they were “directly targeted by the occupation forces.”
He added that the Al Jazeera journalist lost her life after she was shot in the head.
Al-Samoudi further said, “The place where the journalists were present was clear to the occupation soldiers, and there were no armed men or clashes in that area (…) We were deliberately targeted.”
Videos on social media platforms showed people transferring Abu Akleh in a car, while she was wearing a journalist vest.
Israeli forces raided the city of Jenin to arrest a Palestinian, triggering clashes with angry residents, earlier on Wednesday.
An investigation has begun on the Al Jazeera journalist’s death, the Israeli army said in a statement.
Army forces, in cooperation with the Shin Bet internal security service and the border guards, worked “in the last hours in the Jenin refugee camp and near the village of Burqin, and in several other areas of the West Bank to arrest wanted persons,” a military statement said.
The Israeli army suggested that the Al Jazeera correspondent may have been shot by Palestinians during clashes with Israeli forces.
