Abu Akleh Shireen, an Al Jazeera reporter has been shot dead while she was on a mission in Jenin in the occupied West Bank to cover the Palestinian Israeli conflicts. Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennet said it was “likely” she was killed by the indiscriminate gunfire from the Palestinian militants.
Abu Akleh joined the Al Jazeera media network in1996 which was a year after it was officially launched. She was one of the Qatar-based Arabic language network’s first field correspondents. She rose to fame after boldly covering the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000. She had worked for Al Jazeera since then.
Akleh was among the few Arab media’s most prominent personalities and was widely hailed for her bravery and professionalism when it came to covering dangerous stories.
She was described by Palestinians as an inspiration to women and to many who wanted to pursue journalism because she had broken the stereotype of gender roles in the media. Senior Al Jazeera Journalist Dima Khatib tweeted that Abu Akleh was “one of the first Arab women war correspondents in the late 1990’s when the traditional role of women was to present from the television studio.”
Her death is beginning to spark tensions as both Palestinian and Israeli armies are pushing the blame on each other for who killed the veteran reporter. There are investigations going on from both sides.
