Palestinian mourners carry pictures of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and Arabic that reads, Shireen, the voice of Palestine, in front of the office of Al Jazeera channel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday. AP
Ali Al-Samudi, a journalist and producer at the Qatar-based network Al Jazeera, was shot in the back in the same incident and hospitalided in a stable condition. He blamed the Israeli forces for Abu Akleh murder.
The Palestinian Authority also blamed the Israeli occupation forces for Abu Akleh's murder.
Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian journalist who covered the Israeli occupation for many years, was shot dead while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin early Wednesday.
The incident has sparked public uproar, international condemnation, and calls for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of Abu Akleh's death.
“This crime against the Palestinian journalist while performing her work is a flagrant violation of the rules and principles of the international humanitarian law and a blatant infringement on freedom of the press and media and the right to expression,” Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Egyptian foreign ministry also condemned the shooting of Al-Samudi, wishing him a speedy recovery.
Hafez demanded an immediate probe into the tragedy in a way that “leads to achieving prompt justice.”
The ministry also extended sincere condolences to the family of Abu Akleh and to the Palestinian people.
“Journalism has lost a great national media professional,” the ministry stated.
The killing of Abu Akleh comes as the Israeli occupation forces have intensified raids and arrests of tens of Palestinians in the West Bank, especially in Jenin.
Israeli forces have killed more than 30 Palestinians and injured tens during its escalations in the West Bank over the past month.
Egypt has condemned on more than one occasion these recent Israeli escalations in the West Bank, calling for restraint.
Meanwhile, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul-Gheit also condemned the killing of Abu Akleh, calling for a comprehensive investigation into her death.
Abul-Gheit added that urgent actions must be taken to hold those responsible for this crime accountable, stressing that Abu Akleh’s name will be added to the list of "martyrs of the Arab media," who were killed while carrying out their professional duties.
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate also condemned Abu Akleh’s “assassination by the Israeli occupation forces while performing her journalistic duties.”
The syndicate urged the international community and relevant international organisations to hold the Israeli state accountable for Abu Akleh’s death.
It also urged opening an expanded international investigation into Israel's repeated violations against Palestinian journalists, calling for relevant United Nations bodies to protect Palestinian journalists from the aggression of the Israeli forces.
The syndicate stressed support for the journalists working in the occupied Palestinian lands, hailing them as “the world’s eye on truth regarding what is happening in Palestine,” urging them to exercise caution while performing their duty.
Egypt's Al-Azhar -- the world's leading Sunni religious authority -- also denounced Abu Akleh's death, saying that the crime "strongly demonstrates to the world the ugliness of the brutal Zionist entity and the terrorism and crimes it perpetrates."
Al-Azhar mourned the death of Abu Akleh, saying "her only crime was that she was a Palestinian and a journalist who conveyed the picture and incidents and delivered the voice of the oppressed and persecuted in their land to the world."
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