It said Shireen Abu Akleh, a well-known Palestinian female reporter for the broadcaster's Arabic language channel, was shot early on Wednesday and died soon afterward.

Another Palestinian journalist working for the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds newspaper was wounded but in a stable condition.

The Qatar-based broadcaster blamed Israel. In a statement flashed on its channel, it called on the international community to "condemn and hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for deliberately targeting and killing our colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh."

In video footage of the incident, Abu Akleh can be seen wearing a blue flak jacket clearly marked with the word "PRESS."

The Israeli military said its forces came under attack with heavy gunfire and explosives while operating in Jenin, and that they 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 had proposed to the Palestinian Authority a joint pathological investigation into the reporter's death.

"Journalists must be protected in conflict zones and we all have a responsibility to get to the truth," he tweeted.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters, condemned what it said was a "shocking crime" committed by Israeli forces.

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.

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 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want the territory to form the main part of their future state.

Nearly 3 million Palestinians live in the territory under Israeli military rule. Israel has built more than 130 settlements across the West Bank that are home to nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers, who have full Israeli citizenship.

Israelis have long been critical of Al-Jazeera's coverage, but authorities generally allow its journalists to operate freely.

Relations between Israeli forces and the media, especially Palestinian journalists, is strained.

A number of Palestinian reporters have been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or tear gas while covering demonstrations in the West Bank. A Palestinian journalist in Gaza was shot and killed by Israeli forces while filming violent protests along the Gaza frontier in 2018.

During last year's war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the building in Gaza City housing the offices of The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.

Residents were warned to evacuate and no one was hurt in the strike. Israel said Hamas was using the building as a command centre but has provided no evidence.

Australian Associated Press