Israeli police clashed with Palestinian mourners who rioted around the coffin of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral procession in Jerusalem on Friday.
Masked police officers faced scores of flag-waving and chanting Palestinians in the St. Joseph Hospital compound in East Jerusalem, television footage showed.
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Palestinians gather around the coffin of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral procession in Jerusalem
(Photo: AFP)
Officers then stormed the crowd and at one point the pallbearers were backed against a wall and almost dropped the casket, recovering it just before one end hit the ground.
Abu Akleh, who had covered Palestinian affairs and the Middle East for more than two decades, was shot while reporting on an Israeli raid in the West Bank on Wednesday.
Palestinian authorities described Abu Akleh's killing as an assassination by Israeli forces. Israel's government initially suggested Palestinian fire might have been to blame, but officials have also said they could not rule out it was Israeli gunfire that killed her, adding no conclusion could be made until the Palestinian Authority transfers the bullet that killed her to be probed.
On Friday, Israeli police said the group of Palestinians they described as rioters had begun throwing stones in the hospital compound. "The policemen were forced to act," they added. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian authorities.
A few minutes later, Abu Akleh's coffin was placed in a vehicle that headed toward the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin in Jerusalem's walled Old City, where the ceremony proceeded peacefully.
Investigation and raids
The Israeli military said on Friday that its initial investigation "concluded that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh."
The inquiry has raised two possibilities, the military said in a statement. The first, that Abu Akleh was hit by Palestinian militants who fired dozens of bullets toward Israeli military vehicles, "which is also the direction where Ms. Abu Akleh was".
The second, that an Israeli soldier returning fire from a jeep toward a gunman had inadvertently hit her. The vehicle was around 200 meters from Abu Akleh, the military said.
Israeli forces on Friday resumed raids on the outskirts of Jenin, where Abu Akleh was killed. The military said that an Israeli police officer was killed in what it said was counter-terrorism activity. At least 13 rioters were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The Jenin Brigade, an armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, said its fighters were engaging in armed clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin and residents said the Israeli forces arrested a militant from the Islamic Jihad Group.
Abu Akleh's death has drawn widespread condemnation. Video footage from the moments after she was shot showed Abu Akleh, 51, wearing a blue vest marked "Press".
At least two of her colleagues who were with her said that they had come under Israeli sniper fire and that they were not close to militants.
Israel, which has voiced regret at Abu Akleh's death has proposed a joint investigation with the Palestinians, asking them to provide the bullet for examination. The Palestinians have rejected the Israeli request. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said Israel was fully responsible and called for an international investigation.