Jerusalem, Europe Brief News – Israeli police forces stormed the grounds of a Jerusalem hospital as the coffin containing the body of the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot killed during an Israeli raid on Wednesday in West Bank.
TV images showed the Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh’s coffin nearly falling to the ground as police grabbed Palestinian flags from the crowd around the procession outside St Joseph’s hospital in the occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli police threatened to storm the hospital if the mourners continue to raise Palestinian flags or chanting anti-occupation slogans.
An Israeli police officer was filmed addressing the crowd: “If you don’t stop these chants and [Palestinian] nationalistic songs, we will have to disperse you using force and we won’t let the funeral take place.”
Abu Akleh’s coffin later managed to leave the hospital grounds by vehicle and arrived at a Jerusalem church for her funeral.
Shireen Abu Akleh was killed on Wednesday while covering an Israeli raid into Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry said Abu Akleh was hit in the head by a live bullet during the raid. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition and later pronounced dead.
Another Palestinian journalist, Al Jazeera producer Ali Samoudi, was shot and wounded.
Samoudi told the BBC from hospital that no Palestinian gunmen were nearby when they were hit.
“The bullets came from the area where the [Israeli] soldiers [were deployed],” he said. “The Israelis don’t want [journalists to] cover the situation in the Jenin camp.”
Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces of assassinating Abu Akleh “in cold blood” and called for them to be held accountable for the “intentional targeting and killing of a journalist”.
Mr Bennett said on Wednesday that it appeared “likely that armed Palestinians… were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist”.
However, Defence Minister Benny Gantz later told a briefing that it could have been “the Palestinians who shot her” or “tragically, it may be our side”.
“Our initial findings from the investigation so far cannot indicate what gunfire was directed at Shireen, and I cannot exclude any option because of the operational chaos on the ground,” he said.
The Israeli military stepped up raids on Jenin following a wave of attacks by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians on the streets of Israel and the West Bank in recent weeks that has left 17 Israelis and two Ukrainians dead.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed – including assailants shot dead while carrying out attacks, or militants and civilians killed during Israeli raids and confrontations.
Four of the Palestinians who carried out attacks in Israel came from the Jenin district.
