Al Jazeera journalist shot dead in West Bank
STORY: An Al Jazeera reporter has been shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in the early hours of Wednesday (May 11).
Graphic footage shows the immediate aftermath of the moment 51-year-old Palestinian-American TV reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Al Jazeera blamed Israeli forces for Abu Akleh's death, describing it as a blatant, cold-blooded murder.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Abbas was making unfounded allegations.
The Israeli military claims its troops came under heavy fire during an operation in the city of Jenin to arrest a Hamas militant.
Abu Akleh's colleagues carried her body, which was wrapped in a Palestinian flag, through the streets of the city.
Another Al Jazeera reporter, Ali al-Samudi, was also shot. Speaking to Reuters from hospital, he said they were clearly identified as member of the press.
"We were obvious. We made sure to walk right in-front of the army patrols so that they can see us and they saw us, after we went to a road where there were no armed people, no civilians and there was no shooting and no incidents there, we were shocked by the shooting. I was lucky and I turned my back when the first bullet was shot and injured my back, they wanted to kill me."
Abu Akleh, a prominent, veteran reporter, was covering the latest arrest operation launched by the Israeli military amid deadly Arab attacks in Israel.
Palestinian authorities said Abu Akleh had died of a bullet wound to the head and demanded an international investigation into the incident.
In a statement, Bennett said said the Palestinian authority had refused a joint autopsy and investigation.
"Based on preliminary data that we have, there is a viable chance that the journalist was hit by the fire of armed Palestinians. But in order to reach the truth, we must conduct a real investigation. The Palestinians are currently preventing it. Without a real investigation, we won't reach the truth."
Since March, Palestinians and members of Israel's Arab minority have killed 18 people in attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have mostly targeted civilians.
Some of the assailants have come from Jenin causing the city to become a main target of Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank that have sparked clashes and brought the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or armed civilians to at least 42 since the beginning of the year.
