UNITED NATIONS
UN Secretary General, António Guterres, says he is "appalled" by Wednesday's killing of veteran Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Aqla (pictured).
The US also condemned the
killing and called her a "reporting legend".
Abu Aqla, 51, died while covering
a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. Her producer was injured.
Al Jazeera said Israeli troops
"deliberately" shot her. Israel's prime minister said it was
"likely" she was shot by Palestinian gunmen.
But Naftali Bennett's military
chief said the Israeli armed forces were not yet able to determine what
happened.
Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible
for what he described as a "crime of execution".
In a statement issued via his spokesperson
late on Wednesday, Mr Guterres called on "the relevant authorities to
carry out an independent and transparent investigation into this incident and
ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
"The secretary general
condemns all attacks and killings of journalists and stresses that journalists
must never be the target of violence," the statement added.
Meanwhile, White House
spokeswoman Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter that Americans were "heartbroken to
learn of the killing" of Abu Aqla and the injuries to her producer.
"We send our deepest
condolences to her family, friends, and strongly condemn her killing," Ms
Psaki added, calling her a "reporting legend" who will be
"mourned by all who knew her".
Abu Aqla was widely known and
widely admired - by viewers and colleagues alike.
Early on Wednesday morning she
went to the Jenin refugee camp to report on a raid by Israeli soldiers and
security forces, which the Israeli military said was conducted to apprehend
"terrorist suspects".
"During the activity,
tens of Palestinian gunmen fired at and hurled explosive devices toward the
soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire toward the gunmen and hits were
identified," a military statement said.
The Palestinian health
ministry said Abu Aqla was hit in the head by a live bullet during the raid.
She was taken to hospital in a critical condition and later pronounced dead.
Another Palestinian
journalist, Al Jazeera producer Ali Samoudi, was shot in the back and was in a
stable condition in hospital, the health ministry added.
"We were going to film
the Israeli army operation and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave
or stop filming," Al Jazeera cited Mr Samoudi as saying. "The
first bullet hit me and the second bullet hit Shireen.
"There was no Palestinian
military resistance at all at the scene," he added.
Video of the shooting showed
Abu Aqla was wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word
"press", as well as a helmet.
A statement from Al Jazeera
said: "In a blatant murder, violating international laws and norms, the
Israeli Occupation Forces assassinated in cold blood Al Jazeera's correspondent
in Palestine, Shireen Abu Aqla, targeting her with live fire early this
morning... while conducting her journalistic duty."
The network called on the
international community to hold the Israeli government and military accountable
for the "intentional targeting and killing" of a journalist.
Qatar - which funds Al Jazeera
- said it considered the killing a "heinous crime and a flagrant violation
of international humanitarian law and a blatant infringement on freedom of
media and expression".
Mr Abbas condemned the
shooting of Abu Aqla and Samoudi and alleged that it was "part of the
occupation's policy of targeting journalists to obscure the truth and commit
crimes silently".
Mr Bennett accused Mr Abbas of
making "baseless accusations".
"According to the
information we have gathered, it appears likely that armed Palestinians - who
were firing indiscriminately at the time - were responsible for the unfortunate
death of the journalist," he said in a statement.
"Palestinians in Jenin
were even filmed boasting: 'We hit a soldier; he's lying on the ground.'
However, no [Israeli] soldier was injured, which increases the possibility that
Palestinian terrorists were the ones who shot the journalist."
Israel's foreign ministry and
the Israeli military tweeted a video showing a Palestinian gunman firing down
an alleyway in the Jenin camp.
However, Israeli human rights
group B'Tselem later said its researchers in Jenin had concluded that the
Palestinian gunfire seen in that video could not possibly have been the gunfire
that hit Abu Aqla and Samoudi.
In response, the Israeli
foreign ministry stressed that "there was no claim that the gunfire in the
clip killed" Abu Aqla.
Israeli military chief Lt Gen
Aviv Kohavi meanwhile issued a statement saying: "At this stage, it is not
possible to determine whose shooting she was hit by and we are sorry for her
death."
Mr Bennett also said Israel
had called on the Palestinian Authority to conduct a joint post mortem and
investigation in order to get to the truth. He claimed that Palestinian
officials had so far refused the offer, but a Palestinian minister said there
had been no contact from Israel about a joint probe.
Abu Aqla joined Al Jazeera in
1997 and was one of its first field correspondents. She was one of the best
known women to become a regular face on TV screens covering the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the years.
Her colleague Nida Ibrahim
said she was "very well respected" and that the news was "a
shock to the journalists who have been working with her".
The Palestinian ambassador to
the UK, Husam Zomlot, told the BBC's Newsday programme that she was a
very close friend.
"She was a household
[name] in Palestine, in the region and worldwide for being who she was - a
prominent journalist who spent her life covering news, covering Israeli
brutality in Palestine," he said.
The Israeli military
frequently launches arrest raids into Jenin refugee camp. They have stepped up
recently following a wave of attacks by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians on the
streets of Israel and the West Bank in recent weeks that has left 17 Israelis
and two Ukrainians dead.
At least 26 Palestinians have
been killed - including assailants shot dead while carrying out attacks, or
militants and civilians killed during Israeli raids and confrontations in the
West Bank.
Israeli operations have
centred on the Jenin district, where four of the Palestinians who carried out
attacks in Israel came from. - BBC
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