A journalist for Al Jazeera has been shot dead whilst covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin.

The broadcaster and reporter hurt during the incident blamed Israeli forces, who said they are investigating.

Shireen Abu Akleh was a well-known Palestinian female reporter for the broadcaster’s Arabic language channel.

She died soon after being hit by a bullet.

Another Palestinian journalist, Ali Samoudi, was hospitalised after being shot in the back, but is in a stable condition.

The Qatar-based network interrupted its broadcast to announce Ms Abu Akleh’s death, calling on the international community to “condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague”.

In a statement, Al Jazeera said: “We pledge to prosecute the perpetrators legally, no matter how hard they try to cover up their crime, and bring them to justice.”

The Israeli military said its forces came under attack from heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin and fired back.

The military said it is “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen”.

Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid said it has proposed to the Palestinian Authority a joint pathological investigation into the reporter’s death.

The Palestinian Authority condemned it as a “shocking crime” committed by Israeli forces.

It administers parts of the occupied West Bank and co-operates with Israel on security matters.

Ms Abu Akleh, 51, was born in Jerusalem.

She began working for Al Jazeera in 1997 and regularly reported on-camera from across the Palestinian territories.

In video footage of the incident, Ms Abu Akleh can be seen wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word “Press”.

Mr Samoudi, who was working as her producer, told The Associated Press they were among a group of seven reporters who went to cover the raid early on Wednesday.

He said they were all wearing protective gear that clearly marked them as reporters, and they passed by Israeli troops so the soldiers would see them and know that they were there.

He said a first shot missed them, a second hit him, before a third killed Ms Abu Akleh.

He said there were no militants or other civilians in the area — only the reporters and the army.

He said the military’s suggestion they were shot by militants is a “complete lie”.

Shaza Hanaysheh, a reporter with a Palestinian news website who was also among the reporters, gave a similar account in an interview with Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel, saying there were no clashes or shooting in the immediate area.

She said when the shots rang out she and Ms Abu Akleh ran towards a tree to take shelter.

She said: “I reached the tree before Shireen. She fell on the ground.

“The soldiers did not stop shooting even after she fell. Every time I extended my hand to pull Shireen, the soldiers fired at us.

Israel has carried out near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks amid a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, many of them carried out by Palestinians from in and around Jenin.

The town, and particularly its refugee camp, has long been known as a militant bastion.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and the Palestinians want the territory to form the main part of their future state.

Nearly three million Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli military rule.