On May 11, 2022, veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces while reporting on an Israeli raid in the West Bank. Abu Akleh and three other journalists came under fire from Israeli soldiers while reporting on an Israeli military raid of a refugee camp in the city of Jenin on the West Bank. The reporters were wearing vests and helmets, clearly marked as “press”. Abu Akleh was shot in the back of her head and rushed to a hospital where she was declared dead. Abu Akleh was a widely respected Palestinian journalist who covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West Bank for decades.
Even though Israeli officials claimed otherwise, eyewitnesses reported that there had been no exchange of gunfire between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army, and the sniper fire did not stop even after Abu Akleh had collapsed. An independent investigation by the United Nations concluded that the shots that killed Abu Akleh came from Israeli security forces. Several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards the journalists from the direction of the Israeli security forces. According to media reports it is unclear if the Israeli soldiers recognised that the journalists were wearing press credentials or whether they targeted Abu Akleh specifically.