The varying accounts of how Shireen Abu Akleh was killed
Eyewitnesses say Israeli soldiers ‘assassinated’ Al Jazeera journalist but PM claims Palestinians may be responsible

Rival narratives have emerged over how the Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed yesterday.
The veteran correspondent, described as an “icon of Palestinian coverage”, was shot while reporting in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. She was wearing a helmet and a protective jacket labelled “press”.
Al Jazeera insisted that Israeli troops “deliberately” shot their reporter in “cold blood”. A second Al Jazeera employee, Ali Samodi, a producer who was wounded in the incident, said that “all of a sudden” Israeli soldiers “opened fire at us” and “the first bullet hit me, the second one hit Shireen”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Shatha Hanaysha, a journalist for Quds News Network who also witnessed the incident, said: “Even after [Abu Akleh] fell to the ground the fire did not stop and none of us were able to reach her.”
Hanaysha, who was less than a metre from Abu Akleh when she was shot, was in no doubt about what happened in front of her. “This is an assassination,” she said.
However, the Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said there was “a considerable chance” that “armed Palestinians, who fired wildly, were the ones who brought about the journalist’s unfortunate death”.
The Israeli military said its troops shot back after coming under “massive fire” in Jenin and announced initially that “there is a possibility, now being looked into, that reporters were hit – possibly by shots fired by Palestinian gunmen”.
However, said The Guardian, the Israeli military chief, Lt Gen Aviv Kochavi, “appeared to back away” from this claim, saying: “At this stage we cannot determine by whose fire she was harmed and we regret her death.”
According to the Agence France-Presse news agency, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denied they had deliberately targeted journalists and the Israeli government said it had “offered the Palestinians a joint pathological investigation”. The spokesman for the Palestinian Authority has already said his government rejects any role for Israel in any investigation.
Analysing two videos that are being shared online, Sky News said one shows the moment the reporter was shot, as those around her shout warnings that a sniper is firing at them, while the second shows what Israeli authorities claim is a Palestinian man in a balaclava “firing indiscriminately”.
The second video, which has been shared by Israel’s prime minister and the country’s foreign ministry, has one man’s words translated on screen: “They’ve hit one, they’ve hit a soldier, he’s laying on the ground.”
Writing on Twitter, Bennett said that as “no IDF soldier was injured”, this “increases the possibility that Palestinian terrorists were the ones who shot the journalist”.
Al Jazeera noted that the UN Human Rights Office has called for an “independent, transparent investigation into her killing” adding that “impunity must end”.
The White House also called for an investigation, saying it “must be immediate and thorough and those responsible must be held accountable”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
A running list of RFK Jr.'s controversies
In Depth The man atop the Department of Health and Human Services has had no shortage of scandals over the years
By Brigid Kennedy
-
Film reviews: Sinners and The King of Kings
Feature Vampires lay siege to a Mississippi juke joint and an animated retelling of Jesus' life
By The Week US
-
Music reviews: Bon Iver, Valerie June, and The Waterboys
Feature "Sable, Fable," "Owls, Omens, and Oracles," "Life, Death, and Dennis Hopper"
By The Week US
-
Israel blames 'failures' for killing of medics
speed read 14 Gaza medics and 1 U.N. employee were killed by IDF special forces
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designation
The Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Gaza: the killing of the paramedics
In the Spotlight IDF attack on ambulance convoy a reminder that it is 'still possible to be shocked by events in Gaza'
By The Week UK
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across Syria
THE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Who are the West Bank settlers?
The Explainer While all eyes are on Gaza, Israeli settlers are encroaching further onto Palestinian land in the West Bank
By The Week UK
-
Is Israel annexing Gaza?
Today's Big Question Israeli army prepares a major ground offensive and is said to have plans to 'fully occupy the territory'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weapons
The Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
By Abby Wilson
-
Israel detains director after West Bank settler clash
speed read The director of Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land' was arrested and beaten
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US