Jenin, Palestinian Territories:
Journalist Veteran Al Jazeera Shireen Abu Aqleh was shot dead on Wednesday when he covered the attack of Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp in the western edge occupied.
The Qatar -based TV channel said that Israeli troops shot Abu Aqleh, 51, intentionally and “in cold blood” while Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said “the possibility” that Palestinian shot killed him.
Abu Aqleh, a Palestinian Christian who also holds US citizenship, is a prominent figure in the channel Arabic news service.
Another Al Jazeera journalist, producer Ali Al-Samudi, was injured in the incident, the announcer added.
A AFP photographer at the scene said Abu Aqleh wore a press criticism jacket when he was shot. The photographer reported that Israeli troops shot in the area and then saw Abu Aqleh’s body lying on the ground.
The Israeli army confirmed that he had carried out operations at the Jenin refugee camp Wednesday morning but firmly denied that he had deliberately targeted a reporter.
The army said there was a fire exchange between suspects and security forces and that it “investigated the incident and saw the possibility that journalists were beaten by Palestinian armed people”.
“(Army) certainly does not aim for journalists,” a military official told AFP.
A statement from Al Jazeera said: “In a striking murder, violating the law and international norms, Israeli occupation forces were killed in the cold blood of Al Jazeera correspondents in Palestine.”
It asked the international community to ask for the responsibility of Israeli forces for the “accidental targeting and murder” from their journalists.
Palestinian gunmen”
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Israel was looking for “joint pathological investigation of the sad death of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh”.
Journalists must be protected in the conflict zone and we all have the responsibility to achieve the truth,” Lapid added.
The US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, tweeted that he was “very sad to know the death of American and Palestinian journalists Shireen Abu Aqleh” and called for “a comprehensive investigation of his death.”
Israeli Prime Minister said that the Palestinian armed man in the camp was likely to be responsible for the death of Abu Aqleh.
According to the information we have collected, it seems that the armed Palestinian – which indiscriminately fired at that time – was responsible for the death of unfavorable journalists,” Bennett said in a statement.
Al Jazeera producer who was injured, Samudi, said there were no Palestinian fighters in the area where Abu Aqleh was shot.
If there are fighters of resistance, we will not go to the area,” he said in a testimony posted online, stating that the Israelites shot at us”.
In recent weeks, the Army has increased operation in Jenin, a historical flame point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some attackers who were blamed for a deadly attack on the people of Israel in recent weeks came from the area.
The army said that during his operation in the camp, “A large shot was shot at the Israeli forces by dozens of armed Palestinian armed men.”
The people in the camp “also threw explosive devices at the soldiers, endangering their lives. The soldiers responded with fire towards the sources of fire and explosive devices. Hit was identified.”
Rising tensions
Fatal shootings came almost a year after Israel’s air strikes destroyed a Gaza building that accommodated the Al Jazeera office and the AP news agency.
Israel said the building was also hosting the office for the key members of the Hamas Islamic group, who controlled the Gaza Strip that was blocked by Israel.
The Palestinian authority said that Abu Aqleh killed “execution” and part of Israel’s efforts to obscure the “truth” about his occupation in the West Bank.
Hamas said the incident was “planned murder”.
Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Qatar Lolwah Al Khater said that Israeli forces had killed Abu Aqleh “by shooting his face” in what he called the “state sponsored by Israeli terrorism”.
Tensions have increased in recent months because Israel has wrestled with a wave of attacks that have killed at least 18 people since March 22, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukraine.
As many as 30 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have been killed during the same period, according to AFP calculations, including the perpetrators of the attack and those killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank operation.