Israel embassy spokesperson Muhamed Heib on Wednesday while refuting claims of Al Jazeera journalist being shot by Israeli forced, counter pointed that there are indications that ' journalist Abu Akleh was killed by Palestinian terrorist fire'
A veteran journalist working for Al Jazeera was killed on Wednesday during an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, prompting the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Qatar-based network to blame the Israeli army for the death, while Israel denied the accusation and called for a "joint pathological analysis and investigation" to establish the truth.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Shireen Abu Aqla, a Jerusalem-based journalist for Al Jazeera, was hit in the head by live fire.
"We are saddened by the death of senior Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh during a heavy exchange of fire in the midst of a counter-terror operation in Jenin. A free and fair press is fundamental to Israel and all democracies, and as such, journalists must be protected", said the Israel Foreign ministry in a statement.
"To clarify, there is a video of the terrorists stating, “We hit a soldier, he is lying on the ground”. Given that no IDF soldier was injured as stated, it is possible that they were responsible for harming the journalist.5. This is an environment saturated with terrorists who, unlike IDF soldiers, shoot indiscriminately.6. We call on the Palestinians to investigate this issue through a joint pathological investigation. The State of Israel is in favour of the truth. They have refused until this very moment, possibly in order to hide the truth.", spokesperson Muhamed Heib told the Free Press Journal.
According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the militants opened fire at the Israeli forces and hurled explosives at them during the raid, before the soldiers returned fire.
The IDF was looking into "a possibility, now being looked into, that reporters were hit - possibly by shots fired by Palestinian gunmen", the Israeli army said.
In footage from the scene, the 51-year-old was seen wearing a PRESS vest and a helmet and was hit below the ear in an area not covered by her helmet.
Born in East Jerusalem, Abu Aqla had worked for several agencies such as UNRWA, Radio Voice of Palestine, Amman satellite channel, the Moftah Foundation and Radio Monte Carlo before joining Al Jazeera in 1997.
Human rights group Yesh Din called for an international investigation into her death, saying that the Israeli defence establishment "has proven in several cases that it is unable to investigate such incidents on its own." Abu Aqla's death "requires urgent international intervention in order to get to the truth, we call for the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate this case in depth," it said.
The IDF has been operating in Jenin and across the West Bank in an attempt to stop a series of recent attacks that have killed 19 people in a month and a half.
