A well-respected journalist has died after being shot in the head during a gun battle, her employer has reported.
Shireen Abu Akleh was covering raids in the West Bank city of Jenin when she died in what has been branded an "assassination".
The Al Jazeera reporter was rushed to hospital with critical injuries, but was later pronounced dead.
Palestine's health ministry said that Ms Abu Akleh died after being shot by Israeli forces, while another journalist, Ali Samoudi, is in a stable condition after being shot in the back.
But Israel has hit back at claims its forces were responsible, instead suggesting that Ms Abu Akleh may have died as a result of Palestinian gunfire.
Ms Abu Akleh's colleague Dena Takruri posted on Twitter : "I’m reeling from the news of the death of my friend and colleague Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent.
"Israeli forces shot her in the head while she reporting in Jenin while clearly wearing a press vest. This is absolutely horrifying."
Her colleague Nida Ibrahim told Al Jazeera : “What we know for now is that the Palestinian Health Ministry has announced her death.
"Shireen Abu Akleh, was covering the events unfolding in Jenin, specifically an Israeli raid the city, which is north of the occupied West Bank, when she was hit by a bullet to the head.
“As you can imagine, this is a shock to the journalists who have been working with her.”
Ms Abu Akleh was described as a "“very well respected journalist” who had been working for Al Jazeera since 2000.
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, posted on Twitter : “Israeli occupation forces assassinated our beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while covering their brutality in Jenin this morning.
"Shireen was most prominent Palestinian journalist and a close friend."
Palestinian-American lawyer Huwaida Arraf wrote: “Horrified to hear of Israel’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin! Shireen has boldly covered Israel’s aggression in Palestine for over two decades."
Admirers have paid emotional tributes to the respected journalist.
Mezna Qato wrote: "In the last twenty years, there is no one who narrated the Palestinian story in real time more powerfully than Shireen Abu Akleh.
"Her dispatches from across Palestine, especially the West Bank, resonating an empathy and courage instantly recognizable to the Arabic-speaking world.
"During the second Intifada her reportage was legendary, brave, steady, impeccably incorruptible."
In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops had shot back after coming under "massive fire " in Jenin and that "there is a possibility, now being looked into, that reporters were hit - possibly by shoots fired by Palestinian gunmen".
