Veteran Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head while on an assignment to cover an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Al Jazeera Media Network has said she was “assassinated in cold blood” and called the international community to hold Israeli forces responsible. The 51-year-old journalist was shot in the head and left bleeding before she was finally transferred to the hospital. Evacuating her from the scene under continuous Israeli fire was dangerous and difficult, but a brave Palestinian man managed to drag her body out of the line of fire after some time. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Shireen’s murder is a reminder that Israel will go to any length to silence its critics.
Though this is not the first time that journalists have been targeted or even killed by Israeli forces, the outrage and outpouring of grief for Shireen and what she stood for has reverberated across parts of the world — her murder has triggered an outpouring of global condemnation –specially from the Tropic of Cancer region.
Britain’s Labor Party’s shadow minister for the Middle East and North Africa has reportedly joined other members of parliament in calling for the UK government to demand an independent investigation into the killing of Shireen, 51.
