United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday condemned the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian photojournalist Yaser Murtaja while he was covering the Great March of Return in Gaza on Friday.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement, “I condemn the killing of Yaser Murtaja and welcome the decision of the Israeli authorities to investigate this killing.”

An Israeli sniper deliberately shot Murtaja in the abdomen while he was covering peaceful protests near the border fence east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on 6th April.

The government’s information office in Gaza said in a statement that Murtaja was wearing a clearly-identifiable flak jacket with visible press markings when he was shot.

The statement added that Murtaja was also a filmmaker and a founder of Ain Media, a local TV production company, who participated in the production of a series of documentaries that were broadcast via Arab and foreign platforms on the situation in Gaza.