Yaser Murtaja was killed while covering protests on the Gaza border on Friday - REUTERS

The Israeli military was facing widespread questions on Saturday over why its snipers killed a Palestinian journalist who was wearing body armour clearly marked with a “Press” sign.

Yaser Murtaja, 30, was shot in the side on Friday afternoon while covering protests along the Gaza border and later died from his injuries. At least five other Palestinian journalists were reportedly shot by Israeli troops during the protest.

Murtaja, a freelance cameraman who had worked for the BBC and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, was filming in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza and was about 300 metres from the Israeli border fence when he was shot, his colleagues said.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it was investigating the shooting of Mr Murtaja and other Palestinian journalists.

“The IDF does not intentionally target journalists. The circumstances in which journalists were allegedly hit by IDF fire are not familiar to the IDF, and are being looked into,” a spokesman said.

Murtaja's body was carried through the streets of Gaza, draped in the body armour that was not enough to save his life.

Family and friends of Murtaja accused Israeli forces of deliberately targeting the cameraman, saying there was no way a sniper could have mistaken him for a protester when he was clearly marked as a journalist.

“He was wearing a press jacket and a helmet,” said Rushdi Serraj, a journalist who was with Murtaja when he was shot. “The vest was so visible. It’s clear that they targeted him on purpose.”

Murtaja was married and had a three-year-old son. While he had worked for many leading international media outlets, he had never left the walled confines of Gaza and dreamed of one day flying in an airplane.

The #journalist Yasser Mushtaha who was killed by the Israeli army yesterday

The occupation deprives this child from his Dad! pic.twitter.com/HEzMhsxJ8j

— Shehab News (@ShehabAgencyEn) April 7, 2018

“My name is Yaser Murtaja. I’m 30. I live in Gaza City. I have never travelled,” he wrote in a Facebook post on March 24, illustrated by a picture he had taken with his drone. “I hope one day I can take such a photo in the sky and not on the ground.”

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“He was always smiling, everyone loved him” said Mr Serraj, who co-founded a small production company with Murtaja. “No one can ever replace Yaser.”

Murtaja worked on Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow documentary about the refugee crisis. The artist posted a photograph of him on Instagram on Saturday, showing him lying on the ground moments after he was shot.

His colleagues carried his body through the streets of Gaza City, draped in a Palestinian flag and the blue flak jacket which was not enough to save his life.

Thousands of people turned out for Murtaja’s funeral al-Omari mosque. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political wing, spoke at the funeral. Friends said Murtaja was not affiliated with Hamas or any other political faction.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said seven Palestinian journalists were shot on Friday, but at least one of the names on the list appeared to have suffered teargas inhalation not gunshot wounds.

Adham al-Hajar was also shot while wearing a press vest on Friday

Among those shot was Adham al-Hajar, a 32-year-old freelance photographer. He was shot in the left leg while photographing demonstrations at a border protest site east of Gaza City.

Like Murtaja, Mr Hajar was wearing a vest clearly marked with “Press” on it. The vest was made of denim and had no armour plating.

Mr Hajar said real body armour was difficult to find in Gaza and that he asked a tailor to make him the 50 shekel (£10) vest in the hope it would it would clearly identify him as journalist to Israeli snipers.

“It’s not a real flak jacket. It just shows that you’re a journalist and it’s supposed to protect you,” he said from his bed in Shifa hospital. “I did my best to make it visible to for the Israeli army that I’m press. As a journalist I didn’t expect the Israeli army to shoot at me.”

He said he believed the Israeli snipers had deliberately targeted him. “They wanted to hit me. It was deliberate. I was very visible to them,” he said. “The Israel army did not want the media to be there covering their true face.”

At least 31 Palestinians have been killed since large protests began on the Gaza border on March 30.

Related Video: More Palestinians Killed in Border Protests

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