Israeli police clashed on Friday with the crowd at the funeral of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, killed during a military operation in the West Bank on Wednesday.
Police officers confronted dozens of Palestinians waving flags and chanting in the St. Joseph in East Jerusalem, annexed to Israel. At one point, the group carrying the journalist’s body nearly dropped the coffin, retrieving it just before one end hit the ground.
The scenes of violence mark mounting anger over Abu Akleh’s murder. The reporter, who has covered Palestinian and Middle Eastern affairs for more than two decades, was shot while covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian authorities claim that Abu Akleh was murdered by Israeli forces. Israeli officials initially suggested that she had been hit by Palestinian fire, but later said they could not rule out that the shot had come from Israeli weapons.
On Friday, Israeli police said a group of Palestinians they described as rioters had started throwing stones at the hospital complex. “Police officers were forced to act,” they added. There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian authorities.
A few minutes later, Abu Akleh’s coffin was placed in a vehicle and taken to the Basilica of the Annunciation of the Virgin in Jerusalem’s Old Walled City, where the ceremony took place peacefully.
Investigation
The Israeli military said on Friday that its initial investigation “has concluded that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the shot that struck and killed Abu Akleh”.
The inquiry raised two possibilities, the military said in a statement. The first is that Abu Akleh was hit by Palestinian militants who fired dozens of bullets at Israeli military vehicles, “situated in the same direction as Abu Akleh”.
The second is that an Israeli soldier had inadvertently hit her while striking back at the Palestinians who were shooting. That soldier was inside a jeep about 200 meters from Abu Akleh, the statement said.
At least 13 people were injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israel says a police officer in the country was seriously injured.
Israeli troops resumed attacks on the outskirts of Jenin, where Abu Akleh was killed.
The Jenin Brigade, an armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, said its fighters were involved in armed clashes with Israeli forces in the city. Residents said Israel had arrested an Islamic Jihad fighter.
press vest
Abu Akleh’s death drew widespread international condemnation. Videos taken after she was shot show the 51-year-old journalist wearing a blue vest with the inscription “Press”.
At least two of the colleagues who were with her said they were under fire from Israeli snipers and not close to Palestinian militants.
Israel, which mourned Abu Akleh’s death, has proposed a joint investigation with the Palestinians, asking them to provide the bullet for examination.
The Palestinians rejected the Israeli request. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that Israel is fully responsible and called for an international investigation.
