Israeli security forces and Palestinians clashed violently in the West Bank before the funeral of a prominent Palestinian-American journalist in Jerusalem Friday in a bloody day of violence that saw the death of an Israeli police officer.
The funeral in Jerusalem for Shireen Abu Akleh began with a violent melee Friday when Israeli security forces shoved and assaulted the people carrying her wooden casket to a church in the Old City.
The 51-year-old Al Jazeera journalist, a Palestinian Christian born in East Jerusalem, was killed Wednesday by a shot to the head as she covered clashes in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank after Israeli security forces entered the area. She was wearing protective gear that identified her as a member of the press when she was killed.
Israeli forces raided an adjacent area Friday, exchanging gunfire with armed Palestinians. A member of the Israeli security forces was wounded and later died.
Running gunbattles in and around Jenin on Friday left 13 Palestinians wounded, including two victims in critical condition, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.
Members of the Israeli security forces detained a man at Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral in Jerusalem.
Photo:
RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS
Friday’s violence followed clashes in recent weeks between Israeli security forces and Palestinians, especially in Jenin.
In initial findings released Friday of its investigation of her death, Israel’s military said that a heavy firefight had been under way around 200 yards from where Ms. Abu Akleh was killed, but that it was unable to determine yet whether she was shot by Israeli forces or Palestinian militants.
In Jerusalem, videos showed that police struck mourners with batons when they sought to remove her casket from a vehicle as it left the hospital grounds, causing the casket to nearly topple to the ground.
One of the marchers said police had ordered that the casket be carried in a vehicle. A spokesman for the police said officers arrested six mourners who threw stones and “damaged the funeral procession vehicle, even trying to prevent it from driving once the coffin was inside.”
After the funeral, the wooden casket, draped in a Palestinian flag, was carried through the narrow streets as hundreds of mourners chanted “Palestine is Arab” and other nationalist slogans as they proceeded to the Greek Orthodox cemetery outside the city walls, where she was buried.
The police largely stepped aside, allowing the mourners a rare show of Palestinian nationalism in the Old City, which Israel captured in 1967 and that the Palestinians claim as their capital. One mourner was seen being taken into custody by officers.
Mourners carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed earlier this week by a shot to the head.
Photo:
AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS
“We have all seen those images. They’re obviously deeply disturbing. This is a day where we should all be marking—including everyone there—the memory of a remarkable journalist who lost her life,” White House press secretary
Jen Psaki
said Friday.
“We regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession,” she added.
Asked Friday whether he condemned the actions of Israeli forces, President Biden said: “I don’t know all the detail, but I know it has to be investigated.”
Israeli security forces identified the officer who died of wounds Friday as 47-year-old Sgt. Maj. Noam Raz, a 23-year veteran of the elite Yamam counterterror unit. He was wounded in the village of Burqin, near Jenin, and transported by helicopter to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
Mr. Raz “fell this morning during a fight with armed terrorists who opened fire on our forces during an operation,” police said.
Mourners holding a banner depicting slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as they walk from the Old City of Jerusalem to her burial site Friday.
Photo:
Ariel Schalit/Associated Press
Smoke rising during a military operation in Jenin in the West Bank.
Photo:
Nasser Ishtayeh/Zuma Press
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement, “We lost a hero today, a brave fighter who gave his life for the security of Israel during a complex and delicate initiated counterterrorist operation.”
During the raid Friday morning, smoke could be seen billowing over the Jenin refugee camp and bursts of gunshots could be heard repeatedly.
After the clashes subsided, residents of Jenin emerged from their homes, and many ventured to the street where Ms. Abu Akleh was killed. They laid flowers in her honor and read tributes to her.
At a nearby hospital, dozens of Jenin residents gathered at the entrance to the emergency room, seeking information on the people who were injured in fighting earlier in the day.
A Palestinian official in Jenin on Friday reiterated the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to conduct a joint investigation into the killing. He said the bullet that hit Ms. Abu Akleh shouldn’t be handed over to the Israeli authorities because they could tamper with the evidence and alter the conclusions of their investigation.
In its interim report, Israel’s military said that “the acquisition of the bullet to conduct a professional ballistics test may be able to determine” who was responsible for Ms. Abu Akleh’s death. The Palestinian Authority has refused to turn over the round, saying it would conduct its own investigation.
“The occupation says give me the bullet. How can I give it to you?” Ahmed al-Qassam, a senior official in the Jenin provincial government, said in an interview at his office about a mile away from where the shooting occurred. “You are the judge, jury and executioner. You’re a suspect, how can I give it to you?”
Family and friends standing by the coffin of Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in a church in Jerusalem.
Photo:
AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS
—Fatima AbdulKarim, Adam Rasgon and Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.
Write to David S. Cloud at [email protected] and Stephen Kalin at [email protected]
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