In an apparent attempt to prevent media coverage of human rights violations perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, a veteran Palestinian American correspondent for Al-Jazeera, Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed while covering a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The Qatar-based network said Abu Akleh was shot "deliberately" and "in cold blood" by Israeli troops in Jenin, in the northern area of the West Bank. Her producer Ali Samoudi was also wounded.

Abu Akleh, 51, was one of the region's most experienced reporters, known to millions for her coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and admired by viewers from all around the world.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Abu Akleh was shot in the head by a live bullet during the raid. "We were going to film the Israeli army operation and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave or stop filming," Samoudi said. "The first bullet hit me and the second bullet hit Shireen. "There was no Palestinian military resistance at all at the scene," he added. Abu Akleh was wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word "press" as well as a helmet.

Al-Jazeera called on the international community to hold the Israeli government and military accountable for the "intentional targeting and killing of a journalist." Qatar on its part said it considered the killing a "heinous crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a blatant infringement on freedom of media and expression."

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting of Abu Akleh and Samoudi and alleged that it was "part of the occupation's policy of targeting journalists to obscure the truth and commit crimes silently."

Violations against journalists

For decades, Palestinian journalists have suffered various challenges and violations, including direct targeting, physical and emotional assaults, restrictions on the freedom of movement, bombardment of their offices, arrests, intimidation, damage to their equipment and more. All have demonstrated a well-planned scheme to isolate the occupied Palestinian territories from the rest of the world and provide a cover-up for crimes against civilians and impose a narrative opposite to the reality on the ground.

Israeli forces' attacks against local and international media personnel working in the occupied region continue systematically despite the protection that journalists, as civilians, enjoy under international law.

Several rights groups have recorded Israeli violations of Palestinian media freedoms, while the Journalists’ Support Committee (JSC), which documents media violations across the Palestinian territories, said in its latest report that the Israeli violations varied between "arrest, extortion and direct field assault" of media personnel among other forms of harassment. It noted that the Israeli army and settlers committed "17 cases of assault and injury against journalists" during their coverage of the demolition of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and rallies in the West Bank. The Israeli army often used rubber bullets and gas bombs against Palestinian journalists, the report added.

The nongovernmental organization (NGO) also documented 18 cases of journalists being blocked from covering Israeli violations against the Palestinians. According to the report, Israeli forces raided the house of one journalist and threatened two female journalists, while restricting the social media accounts of four others for "violating publishing instructions." In previous months, the NGO said that 17 Palestinian journalists and media workers were held in prison by Israel.

For its part, the Palestinian News and Information Agency WAFA said in its yearly report that a total of 384 Israeli violations against journalists working in the occupied region were registered in 2021 and that Israeli violations against journalists included attacking journalists with live and metal bullets, firing tear gas, beating and arresting journalists. It pointed out that the attacks' aim was to hide the truth and keep the daily Israeli crimes against defenseless Palestinian citizens untold.

"Attacking journalists, press crews and institutions using Israeli warplanes and destroying towers that house local and international media headquarters are not something new but rather a systematic behavior in the Israeli military strategy, and a barbaric behavior targeting the safety of journalists in order to terrorize them," the WAFA said.

Besides, I’lam - Arab Center for Media Freedom, Development and Research, a nonprofit NGO based in Nazareth, reported that Israeli security forces were responsible for most of the attacks against journalists and media workers who were covering civilian demonstrations in the Arab Israeli cities as well as Jerusalem, despite them being clearly identified as media workers. The report documented 13 incidents where journalists were attacked, harassed or injured. "According to the testimonies collected, the Israeli security forces' attempts to eradicate journalists and prevent the media from reporting on the events aim to provide the official Israeli narrative with legitimacy and credibility in front of the world," the NGO said.

On the other hand, according to a recent report by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been wounded by Israeli forces in the occupied territories since 2018.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented that more than 40 Palestinian journalists have reportedly been killed since 2000, with hundreds injured or targeted for violence. Female Palestinian journalists also regularly experience violence in the course of their work just for being journalists. U.N. experts said the targeting of journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territory and the Israeli authorities’ failure to properly investigate killings of media personnel also violate the rights to life and effective remedies. "The role of journalists, especially in a context of heightened tension and marked by continuous abuses, like the occupied Palestinian territory, is critical," they said.

The safety of journalists is essential in guaranteeing freedom of expression. Israel’s unlawful killings, willful injuries arbitrary arrests, torture, persecution and collective punishment against Palestinians are increasing rapidly. The killing of Abu Akleh is the latest incident, which will not be the last if the international community does not seriously act and hold Israel accountable for the continuing crimes against humanity just to silence the truth.