Palestinians hail foreign support in investigation into journalist’s death


The death of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh sparked an outpouring of grief, and Israeli police charged a crowd of Palestinian mourners carrying her coffin into Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday, prompting international condemnation.

The violence, which lasted just minutes, added Palestinian outrage over the killing of Abu Akleh, which threatens to fuel tensions that have been escalating since March.

Palestinian authorities have described the death of Abu Akleh, who was covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, as an assassination by Israeli forces.

Israel initially suggested that Palestinian fire may have been involved, but officials have since said they could not rule out that it was Israeli fire that killed her.

The UN Security Council strongly condemned the killing and called for an “immediate, thorough, transparent, fair and impartial investigation”.

Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian Authority official, said on Twitter that the authority would welcome the participation of all international bodies in its investigation.

The authority rejected an offer from Israel, which expressed regret over Abu Akleh’s death, to cooperate with the investigation.

Israeli police said Saturday they tried “to facilitate a calm and dignified funeral… and coordinated funeral arrangements with his family. Unfortunately, hundreds of rioters tried to sabotage the ceremony and interfere with the police. .”

“As with any operational incident, and certainly an incident in which the police were exposed to violence from mobs and in which the police then used force, the Israeli police will look into the events that took place during the funeral,” indicates a statement.

The conclusions of his investigation will be presented in the coming days, he added.

In a hospital in Jerusalem, a Palestinian died on Saturday of wounds sustained during clashes with Israeli security forces three weeks ago inside the al-Aqsa mosque.

This is the first victim of clashes at the sensitive holy site for several years.



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