RAMALLAH, Thursday, May 12, 2022 (WAFA) – News about Israel's killing of Al-Jazeera's key correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, and the widespread condemning reactions to it, hit the front pages of the three Arabic Palestinian dailies on Thursday.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Quds said al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, from Jerusalem, was killed this morning during Israeli army assault in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. The Ministry of Health said Abu Akleh was hit by a live bullet in the head. She was rushed to hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead. Al-Jazeera producer, Ali Samoudi, was also shot by a live bullet in the back, said the ministry. He was reported in stable condition.
The killing of the iconic journalist was met with wide condemnation locally and internationally, as reported in the dailies.
They said The Palestinian Presidency condemned what it described as “the crime of execution” by the Israeli occupation forces of Abu Akleh. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing of Abu Akleh saying she was killed “while carrying out her journalistic duty in documenting the horrific crimes committed by the occupying soldiers against our people.” The General Supervisor of the Official Media, Ahmad Assaf, said that the occupation's targeting of Abu Akleh is a part of the policy of targeting the Palestinian media, adding that “the occupation aims from this crime to obliterate the truth and silence the voice of truth in order to commit its crimes silently.”
The European Union’s spokesperson strongly condemned the killing of Abu Akleh, saying “our condolences go to her family, friends, and colleagues. Another journalist, Ali Al Samoud, has been wounded,” in a statement.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reportedly told reporters accompanying US president Joe Biden on a flight to Illinois” "We call for a thorough investigation into her death,” according to Reuters.
The United States State Department spokesman Ned Price strongly condemned the killing of Abu Akleh in the West Bank. "Her death is an affront to media freedom everywhere," he said in a tweet.
The papers added that Israeli police broke into the home of Abu Akleh in Beit Hanina neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem as people gather there to pay respect for and be with her family.
The papers said that a Palestinian teenager identified as Thayer Khalil Yazouri, 18, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers near Ramallah, according to the Ministry of Health. They said Yazouri was shot directly in the heart at Jabal al-Tawil area in the city of Al-Bireh, Ramallah’s twin city.
Israeli occupation forces demolished a Palestinian-owned house in the village of al-Walaja, west of Bethlehem, said the dailies.
Al-Ayyam said that Israeli police opened fire on an unidentified Palestinian youth while he was present near al-Qatanin Gate, one of the gates leading to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Israeli bulldozers razed a Palestinian commercial facility in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabber
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