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.