An icon of fearless reporting

Thousands of Palestinians paid their respects in Ramallah yesterday to Shireen Abu Akleh, a respected Al Jazeera reporter who was killed on Wednesday while reporting on Israeli action in the occupied West Bank.

The death of the journalist, who was considered an icon of fearless reporting on events in the Middle East, drew condemnation from the Arab and international communities, including the White House, which called for a "thorough investigation".

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday said at the funeral ceremony with state honors that the Israeli authorities were "fully responsible" for the murder of the veteran journalist and requested an international investigation.

Shirin Abu Akleh died as a result of a head wound in the city of Jenin. Al Jazeera and Qatar, where the media network is based, accused Israeli soldiers of the murder.

Israel, which expressed regret over the death of Abu Akleh, announced that the fatal shot could have been fired by a Palestinian attacker and proposed a joint investigation with the Palestinians, which Abbas rejected yesterday.

Ali al Samudi, another Al Jazeera journalist, who was also wounded in Jenin, said that there were no Palestinian attackers when they were shot at.

The news of the death of 51-year-old Abu Akleh reverberated across the Middle East yesterday, and several Palestinian cities, including Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah held memorial processions as her body was flown from the northern West Bank to Jerusalem. Thousands of people paid their respects at Al Jazeera's offices and at her family home in Jerusalem.

The name Abu Akleh has been synonymous with Al Jazeera's coverage of life under occupation for more than two decades. She began working for the Qatar-based network in 1997, reporting from almost every hotspot in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many remember her for her reporting during the Second Intifada that began in 2000 and in which thousands of people, mostly Palestinians, died.

"The news of her death is like a slap in the face for every Palestinian," journalism student Azar Halaf told Al Jazeera, adding that she is a "media icon" and a "role model."

"She was in every home, she felt the pain of every Palestinian and conveyed their pain," Halaf said. "She was the voice of truth and justice".

Although she also had American citizenship, Abu Akleh lived and worked in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A Palestinian Christian whose family is originally from Bethlehem, she was born and raised in Jerusalem.

Praising her professionalism, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Stajeh told Al Jazeera that she "was not just a reporter, but that she experienced cases and reported on every detail of Palestinian daily life." "I saw Shirin Abu Akleh everywhere - at funerals, celebrations, demonstrations," he said.

In a column published in the Israeli newspaper "Haretz", columnist Gideon Levi praised her courage. "Abu Akleh died a hero, doing her job," and added that she went to Jenin and other occupied areas that Israeli journalists "rarely visit."

In her last email to the Al Jazeera newsroom in Ramallah, Abu Akleh wrote: The occupation forces have invaded Jenin and are holding a house in the Jabriyat neighborhood under siege. I'm on my way there - I'll send a report as soon as I get a clearer picture."

At the time when she was killed, Abu Akleh was standing with other journalists and was wearing a clearly marked journalist's vest. She was hit by a bullet above her ear.

According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 144 Palestinian journalists were wounded by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Palestinian director Yasser Murtaja was killed while reporting on the conflict. He was shot by an Israeli sniper during protests on the border of the Gaza Strip in 2018. Another journalist, Yousef abu Hussein, was killed when his house was hit in an airstrike in Gaza last May.