In Pictures: Funerals Held After Shooter Kills Palestinian Journalist

Published May 12th, 2022 - 06:31 GMT

In Pictures: Funerals Held After Palestinian Journalist Killed

Children take part in a candlelight vigil to condemn the killing of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, in Gaza City, on May 11, 2022. Al-Jazeera said Abu Akleh, 51, a prominent figure in the channel's Arabic news service was shot dead by Israeli troops early on May 11, 2022 as she covered a raid on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP)

Funerals were held across the occupied Palestinian territories after veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed during a raid by Israeli forces on the Jenin refugee camp. Abu Akleh was shot in the head after arriving at Jenin to cover the Israeli raid with her journalist colleagues.

Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and a blue protective vest with "PRESS" markings clearly visible when she was shot. Al Jazeera and Palestinian officials said she was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper.

Israeli officials including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett have deflected accusations that an Israeli soldier killed Abu Akleh and have blamed her death on Palestinian gunfire.

Journalists with Al Jazeera and the international news agency AFP who were with Abu Akleh at the time of her death said there were no Palestinian militants in the area when she was shot. The journalists working alongside Abu Akleh said they were warned that Israeli snipers were in the area, and that there was no active gunfire around them when they arrived.

One journalist who was with Abu Akleh, Shatha Hanaysha, told The Washington Post in an interview that, "We were told by people there were Israeli snipers on the roofs, but I didn’t see any. It was very quiet. There was no danger in our area.”

Then without warning the group of journalists came under fire and Abu Akleh was killed. Another journalist interviewed by The Washington Post, Ali al-Samudi, was also injured in the gunfire. He said there were no other Palestinian civilians or fighters nearby and they had not been caught in a crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinians, as Israeli officials have claimed.

“There were no fighters where we were, none at all,” he told The Washington Post. “We don’t put ourselves in the line of fire. Whatever the Israeli army says for us to do, we do. They shot at us directly and deliberately.”