Shireen Abu Akleh

Shireen Abu Akleh (Arabic: شيرين أبو عاقلة Šīrīn Abū ʿĀqle; April 3, 1971 – May 11, 2022) was a prominent Palestinian-American journalist who worked as a reporter for 25 years for Al Jazeera, before she was killed by an Israeli soldier while wearing a blue press vest and covering a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Abu Akleh was one of the most prominent names across the Middle East for her decades of reporting in the Palestinian territories, and seen as a role model for many Arab and Palestinian women.

Upon her death on May 11, 2022, Israel denied responsibility and blamed Palestinian militants. However, it gradually changed its narrative until admitted she was "accidentally" killed by Israeli fire, but refused to undertake a criminal investigation. The admission came after several independent investigations were conducted by international media outlets, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the United States Department of State. Forensic Architecture refuted Israel's findings on September 20 and said Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted and denied medical aid after she was shot. In November 2022, the United States Department of Justice opened a separate investigation into the killing, in a move that Israel condemned and refused to cooperate with. Her niece Lina Abu Akleh has since been demanding that the Israeli soldier responsible for her death be held accountable.

The manner of her death and the subsequent violent disruption of her funeral drew widespread international condemnation of Israel. During her funeral procession, the Israel Police attacked the pallbearers at the Saint Joseph's Hospital in East Jerusalem with batons and stun grenades. The hospital itself was also stormed by Israeli police officers, who assaulted patients and threw stun grenades, wounding and causing burns to medical staff in the building. The facility issued a statement from the Christian Churches of the Holy Land, stating that the Israel Police's actions constituted "invasion and disproportionate use of force" and a violation of the "right of freedom of religion" for the Palestinians. Abu Akleh's funeral was attended by tens of thousands of people carrying Palestinian flags and chanting nationalist songs; it is believed to have been the largest Palestinian funeral in Jerusalem in over twenty years. On October 26, 2023, the Israeli military bulldozed a memorial that had been erected at the site where Abu Akleh was killed.