Several members of the US Congress gathered outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to call for accountability for the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Anadolu news agency reported.

According to Anadolu, Democratic lawmakers Ilhan Omar, Andre Carson, Rashida Tlaib, Betty McCollum and Jamaal Bowman issued a press statement, along with Sharif Mansur, Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The conference was attended by members of Abu Akleh’s family, including her niece Lina, her nephew Victor, and her cousin Jennifer Zacharia. Together with the lawmakers, the family called on US authorities to hold Israel accountable for her murder

“No American journalist or a journalist working for an American company should ever fear retaliation, imprisonment, or death for simply doing their job,” Carson stated at the briefing.

He also announced on Twitter that he has re-submitted a bill titled “Justice for Shireen,” which calls for a comprehensive report to Congress on the killing of Akleh, who was a US citizen, by Israel.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian journalist, was shot in the head while covering an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

(PC, Anadolu)