The tragic May 11 shooting death of Palestinian-American Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh while IDF were operating in Jenin could have troubling consequences for Israel’s international image. Israeli security experts are also concerned that the killing of the reporter, who was a household name in the Arab world, could prompt additional terror attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.

An initial Israeli military inquiry into the incident reads that soldiers from the elite Duvdevan commando unit entered the Palestinian refugee camp in the town of Jenin to detain a suspected Hamas terrorist. According to the IDF, they came under heavy fire by armed militants and fired back. Abu Akleh, who was wearing a helmet and vest clearly marked with PRESS, was shot and killed.

The incident has dragged Israel into an international imbroglio, with the Palestinian Authority blaming the IDF for the killing. Israel quickly launched a widespread public diplomacy campaign in an effort to control the damage, convening urgent meetings of officials from its Public Diplomacy Directorate, the prime minister’s office, the Foreign Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces to counter the emerging narrative blaming Israel for Abu Akleh’s death.

The initial IDF spokesperson’s response less than two hours after her death read, "As part of the activity in the Jenin refugee camp, suspects fired heavily at the force and threw explosives. The force responded by firing. Hits were detected. The possibility that journalists were hit, possibly by Palestinian gunfire, is being investigated.” The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichai Adraee, later tweeted that according to initial assessments, she was killed by shots fired by armed Palestinians and not by the IDF.