Al Jazeera said Tuesday it will submit a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot in the head while covering an Israeli raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank in May.
“Al Jazeera’s legal team has conducted a full and detailed investigation into the case and unearthed new evidence based on several eyewitness accounts, the examination of multiple items of video footage, and forensic evidence pertaining to the case,” Al Jazeera said in a statement.
The network claims new evidence and video show the Palestinian-American journalist and her colleagues were directly fired at in a “deliberate killing” by what Al Jazeera called Israeli occupation forces, a claim which Israel has repeatedly denied.
Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid Tuesday repeated a long-standing rejection that any outside authority would investigate Israel Defense Forces troops.
“No one will investigate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera,” Lapid said.
The IDF referred CNN questions about the ICC case to the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which declined to comment.
In September, the IDF admitted there is a “high possibility” Abu Akleh was “accidentally” shot and killed by Israeli fire aimed at “suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire.”
The IDF said at the time the Israeli military did not intend to pursue criminal charges or prosecutions of any of the soldiers involved.
A CNN investigation published two weeks after Abu Akleh was killed suggested that the fatal shot came from a position where IDF troops are known to have been positioned. The pattern of gunfire on a tree behind where she was standing at the time suggested that the gunfire was targeted rather than indiscriminate, an expert told CNN.
The CNN investigation unearthed evidence — including two videos of the scene of the shooting — suggesting that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death.
She was wearing a flak jacket identifying her as press at the time she was killed.
Al Jazeera said Tuesday: “The claim by the Israeli authorities that Shireen was killed by mistake in an exchange of fire is completely unfounded. The evidence presented to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) confirms, without any doubt, that there was no firing in the area where Shireen was, other than the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) shooting directly at her.”
“The IOF inquiry that found there was no suspicion of any crime being committed is entirely undermined by the available evidence which has now been provided to the OTP. The evidence shows that this deliberate killing was part of a wider campaign to target and silence Al Jazeera,” the network added.
Abu Akleh’s family also submitted an official complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this year to demand justice for her death, Al Jazeera reported.
CNN has contacted the ICC to confirm if they received the case.
The US Security Coordinator, according to the statement, “concluded that gunfire from IDF (Israel Defense Forces) positions was likely responsible for the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.” That conclusion came “by summarizing both” the IDF and Palestinian Authority (PA) investigations — probes to which the US Security Coordinator was granted “full access” over the past several weeks, Price said.
The US Security Coordinator — who leads an inter-agency team that coordinates with the Israeli government and the PA — “found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel,” Price said.
“We again offer our deepest condolences to the Abu Akleh family,” he said.
The family said in a statement Monday that they were “incredulous” about the findings and the “notion that the American investigators, whose identity is not disclosed in the statement, believe the bullet ‘likely came from Israeli positions’ is cold comfort.”
Ali al-Samoudi, an Al Jazeera journalist who was shot along with Abu Akleh, said he was “expecting” the inconclusive results and called the US the real “enemy of democracy and human rights.”
Price said the US “will remain engaged” with Israel and the PA and “urge accountability.”
He noted that the examination of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh was “extremely detailed,” and that “independent, third-party examiners, as part of a process overseen by the U.S. Security Coordinator,” were unable to definitively conclude its origin.
“Ballistic experts determined the bullet was badly damaged, which prevented a clear conclusion,” Price said.
Following the US findings, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that “the IDF investigation was unable to determine who is responsible for the tragic death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, but it was able to determine conclusively that there was no intention to harm her.” Israel, Lapid said, “expresses sorrow over her death,” and he gave his “full and unequivocal backing” to IDF soldiers.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a separate statement that “it is not possible to determine the source of the shooting — and as such, the investigation will continue.”
The IDF said that the forensic analysis was conducted in a forensic lab in Israel by Israeli experts while US Security Coordinator representatives were present.
“Despite these efforts, the physical condition of the bullet and the quality of the characteristics on it do not enable a ballistic examination to conclusively determine whether or not the bullet was fired from the weapon which was examined,” according to a statement from the IDF.
The Palestinian Public Prosecutor said Monday it was “not true” that the bullet was severely damaged.
Palestinian Authority Attorney General Akram Al Khatib said Saturday that the PA had been given “guarantees” by the US that the bullet would not be given to the Israelis, and did not respond to follow up questions after the IDF said they were involved. The US embassy in Jerusalem told CNN earlier Monday it had no additional comment on exactly who was examining the bullet.
Abu Akleh’s family criticized in their statement the focus on the bullet that killed her, calling such emphasis “misplaced” and “an attempt by the Israeli side to spin the narrative in its favor.”
They also noted that there “were numerous eyewitnesses to the killing, and we have now had the benefit of reports from multiple local and international media outlets, human rights organizations, and the United Nations that an Israeli soldier fired the fatal shot, as there were no other armed elements in the area of Jenin where Shireen was murdered.”
A CNN investigation in May unearthed evidence — including two videos of the scene of the shooting — that there was no active combat, nor any Palestinian militants, near Abu Akleh in the moments leading up to her death. Footage obtained by CNN, corroborated by testimony from eight eyewitnesses, an audio forensic analyst and an explosive weapons expert, suggested that Abu Akleh, who was wearing a helmet and blue protective vest marked “Press” at the time of her killing, was shot dead in a targeted attack by Israeli forces.
CNN is among at least five media outlets that conducted investigations that suggest the shot was fired from a position where Israeli troops were located. None of the investigations found any evidence of Palestinian militants near Abu Akleh when she was shot, or of militants who had a direct line of fire towards her. A United Nations Human Rights Office investigation reached the same conclusions as the journalistic investigations.
Abu Akleh’s family vowed Monday to continue to advocate for her, writing in its statement that to say the US investigation, “with its total lack of transparency, undefined goals, and support for Israel’s overall position is a disappointment would be an understatement.”
“We continue to call on the American government to conduct an open, transparent, and thorough investigation of all the facts by independent agencies free from any political consideration or influence,” the family said.
Two dozen US senators called last month for direct US involvement in the investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing. US President Joe Biden plans to visit Israel and the West Bank later this month.
The family previously said they had not been informed that the bullet was being turned over to US officials.
A US official told CNN prior to the release of the findings that Washington had been pushing the Palestinians to give them access to the bullet that killed Abu Akleh for weeks, and the findings by the State Department come after lawmakers in both the House and Senate called for US government involvement to ensure accountability for Abu Akleh’s killing.
Palestinian officials made the bullet available to US authorities on Saturday. PA Justice Minister Mohammad Al-Shalaldeh told Al Jazeera on Sunday night that US officials had returned the bullet.
This story has been updated with additional details Monday.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Tamara Qiblawi contributed to this report.
TEL AVIV — An American-led analysis of forensic and ballistic evidence, as well as the separate Israeli and Palestinian investigations, found that the bullet that killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh likely originated from an Israeli soldier, but added that there was “no reason to believe this was intentional,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday.
Price said that investigators concluded that the bullet which hit Abu Akleh — a longtime correspondent for Al Jazeera news who was shot on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank city of Jenin — “was badly damaged,” preventing “a clear conclusion.” The statement sparked angry responses from her family and Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Authority handed over the bullet to the U.S. Security Coordinator on Saturday, complying with a long-standing demand from Israel. Since the incident, Israel has claimed that without the bullet, it would not be able to determine whether Abu Akleh had been shot by an Israeli gun or by weapons from armed Palestinians in the area at the time of the shooting.
How Shireen Abu Akleh was killed
“The USSC found no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances during an IDF-led military operation against factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad on May 11, 2022, in Jenin, which followed a series of terrorist attacks in Israel,” the statement said, referring to a string of Palestinian attacks in Israel in recent months in which a number of the assailants hailed from Jenin and the surrounding area.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that “the IDF investigation was unable to determine who is responsible for the tragic death of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, but it was able to determine conclusively that there was no intention to harm her. Israel expresses sorrow over her death.”
IDF spokesman Ran Kochav said on the day of Abu Akleh’s killing that it was “likely” that she was killed by armed Palestinians before the military later backtracked and conceded that it was possible that an Israeli sniper could have been responsible.
The investigation, which the Israeli army said has been stalled due to the Palestinian refusal to transfer the bullet, had been looming over President Biden’s July 13-16 visit to the Middle East, his first as president.
Abu Akleh’s killing has sparked outrage and has shone an international spotlight on what Palestinians and human rights activists have for years called a policy of impunity in Israel’s military.
Slain journalist’s brother seeks U.S. help holding Israel to account
Palestinian officials immediately called Abu Akleh’s killing an “assassination.” Last month, the Palestinian Authority published the results of its own inquiry and said it found that she was killed by a 5.56mm round fired by a Ruger Mini-14 semiautomatic rifle, though it did not say if that model was used by either or both sides — who were exchanging fire the morning of Abu Akleh’s killing.
In response to the State Department announcement, Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the Palestinian news agency that officials believed the United States was looking to protect Israel. He said that, absent American support, the Palestinian Authority would continue to pursue the case in the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague.
“We will not allow attempts to conceal the truth or to have shy references in pointing the finger of accusation to Israel,” said al-Sheikh.
The Israeli group B’Tselem, which documents Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories, said in a statement that “the odds that those responsible for the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh will be held to account are all but nonexistent.”
U.N. rights body says Israeli soldiers killed American journalist in West Bank
On June 24, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said that Israel was the most probable source of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh. The U.N. findings — along with the investigations published by The Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and the investigative group Bellingcat — added momentum to a growing calls for the United States to push more publicly for a thorough and transparent probe.
In June, 24 senators called for the United States to be “directly involved in investigating” the case, while Abu Akleh’s brother, Anton, said America should take it over completely from the Israeli military.
“The focus on the bullet has always been misplaced and was an attempt by the Israelis to spin the narrative in its favor,” said a statement from the Abu Akleh family.
The statement said that the family had hoped, and still hopes, that the FBI or another American authority would regard Abu Akleh’s death as grounds for a “murder investigation.”
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday said it has given the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh to American forensic experts, taking a step toward resolving a standoff with Israel over the investigation into her death.
Abu Aqleh, a veteran correspondent who was well known throughout the Arab world, was fatally shot while covering an Israeli military raid on 11 May in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinians, along with Abu Aqleh’s colleagues who were with her at the time, say she was killed by Israeli fire.
The Israeli army says that she was caught in the crossfire of a battle with Palestinian gunmen, and that it is impossible to determine which side killed her without analysing the bullet. The Palestinians have refused to turn over the bullet to Israel, saying they do not trust them.
The Palestinian attorney general, Akram al-Khatib, said on Saturday that the bullet was given to US experts “for technical work”. He reiterated the Palestinian refusal to share the bullet with the Israelis.
Al-Khatib said the Palestinians welcome the participation of any international bodies to “help us confirm the truth”. “We are confident and certain of our investigations and the results we have reached,” he said.
It was not immediately clear what the American experts could discover without also studying the Israeli weapon that Israel says might have fired the shot. There was no immediate word from Israel on whether it would share the rifle.
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The Palestinian announcement comes just over a week before President Joe Biden is to visit the region.
A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a diplomatic matter, said the issue was raised in a phone call between the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and that both sides hope to resolve the issue before Biden’s visit.
TEL AVIV — A veteran Palestinian American journalist was killed by Israeli forces while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank,a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday, summarizing the results of the office’s investigation into the fatal May shooting of Shireen Abu Akleh, a correspondent for Al Jazeera.
“All information we have gathered — including official information from the Israeli military and the Palestinian Attorney-General — is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli Security Forces,” the spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement.
Abu Akleh was not shot “from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities,” she added.
A correspondent with decades of experience covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the head early on the morning of May 11, while reporting on an Israeliraid on the West Bank city of Jenin. Witnesses said the fire appeared to come from a convoy of Israeli military vehicles, but Israeli officials said she was probably killed by Palestinian gunfire before reversing course and saying it was possible she had unintentionally been shot by an Israeli soldier.
How Shireen Abu Akleh was killed
The conclusions from the United Nations — which included the finding that “several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets” were fired at Abu Akleh and three other journalists from the direction of Israeli forces — mirrored the conclusions of several independent investigations, including a review by The Washington Post, which found that Israeli troops were likely to have fired the fatal shot.
An Israeli military statement Friday did not directly address the U.N. findings but said Israel had continued to investigate the shooting and concluded that “Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately in her area or inadvertently by an IDF soldier.”
The statement blamed the Palestinian Authority for denying Israeli requests to share the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, saying it was “telling of their motives.”
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, in a separate statement, called the U.N. investigation “unfounded.”
The U.N. findings — along with the investigations by The Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN and the investigative group Bellingcat — added to pressure on the White House to address Abu Akleh’s killing, just weeks before President Biden is scheduled to travel to Israel.
On Thursday, 24 U.S. senators sent a letter to Biden urging that the United States be “directly involved in investigating” Abu Akleh’s death. The letter, citing a lack of progress toward the establishment of an independent investigation — and the fact that Abu Akleh was an American — said the U.S. government “has an obligation to ensure that a comprehensive, impartial, and open investigation into her shooting death is conducted.”
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council said the United States “is not currently conducting an official investigation” into the killing but is “working to bridge cooperation between the parties.” The spokeswoman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic discussions, declined to answer directly when asked if Biden would raise Abu Akleh’s killing with the Israelis.
On the day Abu Akleh was killed, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Ran Kochav first acknowledged the incident in a 7:45 a.m. tweet, saying: “The possibility that journalists were injured, possibly by Palestinian gunfire, is being investigated.”
Later that morning, he told Army Radio that it was “likely” that a Palestinian gunman was responsible. By the end of the day, Gantz retreated from those assertions and said an Israeli soldier could also have been responsible for firing the fatal shot.
A week after the killing, however, the army said that it had not found evidence of criminal conduct in the death. As a result, officials said, there would be no investigation of the shooting by military police — a process that would have resulted in the public release of the investigation’s findings.
“More than six weeks after the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and injury of her colleague Ali al-Sammoudi in Jenin on 11 May 2022, it is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation,” the statement from the U.N. human rights office said.
American reporter killed by IDF, network says; Israel calls for inquiry
Palestinians and human rights workers have said for years that Israel’s military justice system creates an atmosphere of impunity for soldiers suspected of violent crimes against Palestinians, including killings.
The last time an Israeli soldier was prosecuted in a military court was in 2016. The soldier, a combat medic, was captured on video fatally shooting a Palestinian assailant who lay wounded on the ground. The Israeli soldier, who was 19 years old, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, spurring outrage nearly across the political spectrum, from Palestinians who said it was a mock trial to many Israelis who argued a soldier in a difficult combat situation could not be prosecuted. Others said the controversy around the trial itself reflected the deep-seated normalization of Israel’s violent occupation of Palestinians.
Shlomo Lecker, an Israeli lawyer who has represented Palestinian families whose relatives have been killed by Israeli soldiers, said he believed international pressure in Abu Akleh’s case would only make the possibility of a thorough and transparent investigation less likely. The army, since the beginning, was committed to protecting its institutional norms, in which soldiers “have gotten used to the fact that they will never face punishment,” he said.
“The army is betting on the fact that diplomats, and the others pushing for an investigation, will give up soon enough,” he added.
The Post’s examination — based on a review of five dozen videos, social media posts and photos of the event, two physical inspections of the area, and two independent acoustic analyses — found that an Israeli soldier probably shot and killed Abu Akleh. The audio analyses of what was likely the fatal gunshot pointed to one person shooting from an estimated distance that nearly matched the span between the journalists and the IDF convoy.
The Post’s review found no evidence of activity of armed Palestinians in the immediate vicinity of where Abu Akleh, along with a group of other journalists, was standing before the killing.
“Perpetrators must be held to account,” the U.N. statement said.
Fahim reported from Istanbul. Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington contributed to this report.
A Palestinian investigation into the shooting death of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has concluded that she was deliberately killed by Israeli forces as she tried to flee, the Palestinian Authority has announced.
The conclusion echoed the results of a preliminary investigation announced nearly two weeks ago and were widely expected. Israel rejected the findings, with the defence minister, Benny Gantz, calling them, “a blatant lie.”
Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera’s Arabic service, was shot in the head on 11 May during an Israeli military raid in Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank.
Witnesses and Palestinian officials have said she was hit by Israeli fire. Israel has said she was shot during a battle between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants, adding that only a ballistic analysis of the bullet – which is held by the Palestinian Authority (PA) – and the soldiers’ guns can determine who fired the fatal shot.
Announcing the results of his investigation at a news conference in Ramallah, the Palestinian attorney general, Akram Al Khateeb, said he had determined there were no militants in the immediate area around Abu Akleh.
“The only shooting was by the occupation forces, with the aim of killing,” he said.
Abu Akleh was among a group of journalists wearing helmets and protective vests marked “press”. Khateeb said the army saw the journalists and knew they were journalists.
He accused Israel of shooting Abu Akleh “directly and deliberately” as she tried to escape. He also repeated the Palestinian position that the bullet would not be handed over to the Israelis for study, adding that it been decided not even to show images “to deprive [Israel] of a new lie”.
Khateeb said his investigation was based on interviews with witnesses, an inspection of the scene and a forensic medical report.
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In a speech later on Thursday, Lt Gen Aviv Kohavi, the chief of general staff of the Israel Defence Forces, said it was impossible to know who fired the bullet and once again called on the Palestinians to cooperate to “get to the bottom” of what happened.
“But there is one thing that can be determined with certainty,” he said. “No soldier fired intentionally at a journalist. We investigated that. We checked it. That is the conclusion. There is no other.”
Israel denies targeting journalists and has offered two possible scenarios, saying Abu Akleh was either shot by Palestinian militants who were firing recklessly at an Israeli army convoy or that she was hit by Israeli gunfire aimed at a nearby militant. The military has identified the rifle that may have been used in that scenario, but says it needs to test the bullet to make any final determination.
An AP reconstruction of events has lent support to witnesses who say she was shot by Israeli troops, even though she was wearing a helmet and vest that clearly identified her as media. But the reconstruction said it was impossible to reach a conclusive finding without further forensic analysis.
Palestinian witnesses said there were no militants or clashes anywhere near Abu Akleh. The only known militants in the area were on the other side of the convoy, about 300 meters from her position.
They did not have a direct line of sight, unlike the convoy itself, which was about 200 meters away on a long straight road.
Israel has publicly called for a joint investigation with the PA, including US participation, and has asked the PA to hand over the bullet for testing. But the US Department of State said Wednesday it had received no formal request for assistance from either side two weeks after Abu Akleh’s death.
The PA has refused to cooperate with Israel, saying Israel cannot be trusted to investigate its own conduct. Rights groups say Israel has a poor record of investigating when security forces shoot Palestinians, with cases often languishing for months or years before being quietly closed.
Hussein Al Sheikh, a top Palestinian official, said Thursday’s report would be shared with the US administration. Copies will also be delivered to Abu Akleh’s family and to Al Jazeera, he said.
The Palestinians say they will also share their results with international parties, including the international criminal court, which launched an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes last year. Israel has rejected that inquiry as being biased against it and is not cooperating with it.
The severe distrust means the Israeli and Palestinian investigations into Abu Akleh’s death are unfolding separately, with neither likely to accept any conclusions reached by the other.
“Unfortunately, during the course of the funeral, severe violent events unfolded on the part of those participating that worsened the situation on the ground,” Israeli Minister of Public Security Omer Bar-Lev said in a statement to CNN.
“The investigative team appointed by Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and headed by Brigadier General Anna Ben Mordechai — a seasoned commander who is familiar with the area in which the funeral took place — will hold a comprehensive investigation into what happened during the funeral over the next day, in order to produce lessons from the incident. These lessons will be presented to the police commissioner and then to me,” he added.
Israeli police came under criticism following Friday’s procession, in which television footage showed officers striking mourners with batons, forcibly taking down Palestinian flags, and arresting individuals carrying the flag. One video released by the Israeli police shows officers ripping Palestinian flags off the hearse carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin.
The Jerusalem Magistrate Court ruled in September 2021 that flying the Palestinian flag is not a criminal offense in Israel. Nevertheless, CNN witnessed the arrest of at least two individuals carrying a flag during Abu Akleh’s procession.
“Flying the Palestinian flag does not constitute an offense under Israeli law,” Israeli Knesset member Ahmad Tibi told CNN on Friday.
“When Omer Bar-Lev was appointed as Israel’s Public Security Minister, he issued a directive limiting confiscation of Palestinian flags from demonstrators to cases where there is an immediate risk of disturbance of the peace. But what the police are doing directly opposes the minister’s orders…What we see is flag-phobia of the Palestinian flag,” he added.
When asked by CNN to clarify the reason for the taking down of Palestinian flags and the arrest of individuals carrying the flag, Israel’s police force responded with a statement, which was also shared publicly on its Twitter account.
“Israel Police prepared yesterday to facilitate a calm and dignified funeral for journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and had coordinated the funeral arrangements with her family. Unfortunately, hundreds of rioters tried to sabotage the ceremony and harm the police,” read the statement.
“Israel Police supports its police officers, but as a professional organization that seeks to learn and improve, it will also draw lessons from the incident,” it added.
On Friday, mourners carried Abu Akleh’s coffin out of the St. Joseph hospital in East Jerusalem, where her body remained until the burial, but were met with strong resistance from Israeli police who compelled them to transport the body by car. A flash bomb and tear gas were fired, according to CNN reporters.
The 51-year-old Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist was a prominent voice across the Arab world, delivering what many said was “the voice of Palestinian suffering” and their “aspirations of freedom.”
“She made a huge impact on Palestine and all the people. She left her fingerprint on everyone’s heart,” Lareen Abu Akleh, Shireen’s niece told CNN.
Nafisa Khwais, a Palestinian woman who considered herself a mother figure to Shireen, told CNN that she had spent all night at the funeral home where people came to mourn the veteran journalist.
“Shireen is my daughter. Her parents died, but we are all her parents. We are all her family,” Khwais said.
“Two weeks ago, she hid me behind her back when clashes erupted by Damascus Gate, and said to me: ‘Mother, come here. I’m so worried about you’ and handed me a bottle of water. I loved Shireen. She was the voice of all Palestinians,” she said.
Friday’s events prompted global reactions by various officials who said they were “shocked” by what they had seen.
“We were deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a post on Twitter on Friday.
A senior State Department official said later that Blinken had spoken to the journalist’s family and expressed his condolences while en route to an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, Germany.
Blinken offered “his deep condolences for their loss,” the official said. Blinken also offered the continued support of the State Department team in Jerusalem to their family and noted the importance of a free and independent press, the official said.
Norway’s Ambassador to Israel, Kåre R. Aas, said in a tweet that he was “shocked by the violent conduct of Israeli police forces during the funeral procession” adding that “such disproportionate force is inappropriate and unacceptable.”
Israeli police attacking mourners carrying the casket of Shireen Abu Akleh in East Jerusalem on Friday.Credit…Maya Levin/Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Israeli police officers on Friday assaulted mourners at the funeral procession of a prominent Palestinian American journalist killed this week in the occupied West Bank, forcing pallbearers to nearly drop the coffin.
Video showed police officers in Jerusalem beating and kicking pallbearers carrying the coffin that contained the body of the journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, striking other mourners with batons, and forcing one man to the ground. During the commotion, the pallbearers were pushed backward, causing them to briefly lose control of one end of the coffin.
The incident happened outside a hospital in East Jerusalem, where mourners had gathered to take the coffin of Ms. Abu Akleh, who was a Christian, to a nearby church for her funeral.
It was one of several spasms of tension during a fraught afternoon, as riot police in several locations in East Jerusalem faced off against crowds of mourners waving Palestinian flags and chanting Palestinian slogans. Israel considers East Jerusalem part of its capital, but it is predominantly populated by Palestinians, and much of the international community considers it occupied territory.
The incident at the funeral procession lasted for roughly a minute, and followed a tense standoff between riot police and mourners in which at least one empty plastic bottle was thrown in the direction of the police.
The police then suddenly advanced on the coffin, swinging batons and aiming kicks at the mourners. As the police advanced, mourners threw projectiles, including what appeared to be a stick, and officers threw what appeared to be stun and smoke grenades.
In a statement, the Israeli police said they “took enforcement action” after some mourners began chanting “nationalist incitement” and after officers had given the crowd a warning.As the coffin was carried out of the hospital, police said, they were “forced to act”because “rioters began throwing stones toward the policemen.”
The police later distributed video showing an empty plastic bottle and two other bottle-shaped objects being thrown in the direction of the officers in the moments before they advanced on the pallbearers, and separate undated video showing several stones on the ground. There was no clear indication of when or how the stones had reached that spot.
Ms. Abu Akleh was shot dead on Wednesday morning in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli raid on the city of Jenin. Witnesses said she was killed by an Israeli soldier.
The Israeli Army said on Friday that while it was possible Ms. Abu Akleh was mistakenly killed by Israeli fire, its initial investigation suggested that she might also have been hit by a Palestinian gunman.
On Thursday, Israeli police warned Ms. Abu Akleh’s family about displaying “flags and slogans” at the funeral, said Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian member of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.
At one point during the funeral a man holding up a wreath stood between the pallbearers and police. Later, as the black hearse carrying her coffin began to slowly make its way through the crowd, an Israeli police officer ripped three Palestinian flags off the vehicle and threw them to the ground, video showed.
Church bells throughout the Old City rang out as mourners chanted, “With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Shireen.”
A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel declined to comment, as did a spokesman for the Israeli public security minister, Omer Bar Lev, who oversees the police.
The funeral was attended by thousands of people and came a day after a state memorial service was held in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Mourners stood in the courtyard of the Palestinian Authority’s presidential headquarters to eulogize and bid farewell to a person considered by many Palestinians to be a trailblazing journalist.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, awarded her the Star of Jerusalem, also known as the Quds Star. One of the highest honors the Palestinian president can bestow, it is traditionally awarded to ministers, ambassadors and members of Parliament. Mr. Abbas described Ms. Abu Akleh as a “martyr for truth and for the free word.”
She was later taken to be buried in Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery, next to her parents.
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting from Nazareth, Israel, and Iyad Abu Hweila from Gaza City.
Journalists, diplomats, religious leaders, and officials including Arab members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, attended the memorial procession at the Palestinian Authority President’s residence, which saw Abu Akleh’s Palestinian-flag-draped coffin carried in as honor guards played musical instruments. Crowds that had gathered on the streets outside the residence were heard chanting “the honest voice never dies” and “we sacrifice our blood and spirit for you, Shireen.”
The memorial was attended by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who in a speech at the event rejected Israel’s offer for a joint investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing and vowed to take the case to the ICC.
“We rejected, and continue to reject, the joint investigation with the Israeli occupation authorities because they committed the crime and we do not trust them,” said Abbas, standing before Abu Akleh’s coffin. “We will go immediately to the International Criminal Court to track down the killers.”
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayyeh said the government will share findings of the investigation with the United States, Qatar and the ICC, adding that it will be concluded “soon” and will include an autopsy report.
The Palestinian-American was shot dead on Wednesday while reporting on Israeli military raids in the West Bank city of Jenin. Akleh’s producer, Ali Al-Samudi, was also shot and is in stable condition, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Following the procession, Abu Akleh’s body was brought to St. Joseph hospital in East Jerusalem, where journalists and friends stood outside, crying as they embraced one another. A crowd of supporters gathered outside the hospital, holding roses and chanting “God rest your soul, Shireen.”
As the ambulance carrying Abu Akleh drove in, dozens gathered to help carry her coffin into the hospital, draped in roses and the Palestinian flag.
Mourners also laid flowers at the doorstep of Abu Akleh’s house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.
“Shireen is my daughter, her parents died but we are all her parents,” said 63-year-old Nafisa Khwais, who sat by Abu Akleh’s home, “we are all her family.”
“Silencing her will never stop us from resisting and telling our story,” added Khwais.
Al Jazeera has accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting and killing Abu Akleh, 51 — one of the Arab world’s most prominent journalists. Her death was met with regional and international outrage and calls for accountability.
The circumstances surrounding her death are unclear. Three eyewitnesses told CNN that the journalists were shot by Israeli troops and that there were no Palestinian militants next to the journalists at the time.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid proposed a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation into the death on Wednesday.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said its forces came under heavy fire during the counterterrorism operation, and that they returned fire.
IDF International Spokesperson Amnon Shefler told CNN late on Wednesday that the Israelis “just don’t know yet” who killed Abu Akhleh, in what appeared to be a softening of previous statements by Israeli officials that said she was “likely” shot by crossfire from Palestinian militants.
Her employer, Al Jazeera, called her death “a blatant murder” by Israeli forces.
Abu Akleh’s funeral will take place on Friday in the Roman Catholic Church in Bab Al-Khalil, before she is buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Zion Cemetery next to her parents.
CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi, Nadeen Ebrahim and Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi contributed to this report.
Shireen Abu Akleh, reporting in Jerusalem for Al Jazeera, was one of the best known Palestinian journalists.Credit… via Agence France-Presse
JERUSALEM — Shireen Abu Akleh originally studied to be an architect but could not see a future for herself in the field. So she decided to go into journalism instead, becoming one of the best-known Palestinian journalists.
“I chose journalism to be close to the people,” she said in a short reel shared by Al Jazeera soon after she was killed on Wednesday by gunfire in the West Bank. “It might not be easy to change the reality, but at least I was able to bring their voice to the world.”
A Palestinian American, Ms. Abu Akleh, 51, was a familiar face on the Al Jazeera network, where she spent 25 years reporting, making her name amid the violence of the Palestinian uprising known as the second intifada, which convulsed Israel and the occupied West Bank beginning in 2000.
She was shot in the head in the West Bank city of Jenin, Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Health Ministry said, blaming Israeli forces for her death. The Israeli military said on Twitter that “Palestinian armed gunfire” might have been responsible.
Mohammed Daraghmeh, the Ramallah bureau chief for the Arabic language news outlet Asharq News, who was friends with Ms. Abu Akleh for many years, said she had remained committed to covering all issues affecting the Palestinians, big and small.
He had last spoken with her two days earlier, he said on Wednesday, and told her that he did not think the events in Jenin were important enough for a journalist as senior as her to cover.
“But she went anyway,” he said. “She covered the story the way it should be done.”
It was not the biggest or political stories that most interested Ms. Abu Akleh, but the smaller ones that showed how people lived, said Wessam Hammad, a news producer with Al Jazeera, who worked with her for 17 years. He said she would see a story where others would not.
“Sometimes I would say, ‘No, Shireen forget it, it’s not a big story.’” he said. “But she would always think about so many different angles on how we could do it, and how can we make it a very human and a very touching story about Palestinians that no other journalist would ever think to do.”
Ms. Abu Akleh was venerated as a martyr by women in Hebron on Wednesday.Credit…Hazem Bader/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Born in Jerusalem to a Catholic family, Ms. Abu Akleh studied in Jordan, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She spent time in the United States when she was younger and obtained U.S. citizenship through family on her mother’s side, who lived in New Jersey, friends and colleagues said.
Al Jazeera said that after graduating from college, she worked for several media outlets, including Voice of Palestine radio and the Amman Satellite Channel, before joining Al Jazeera in 1997. She soon became a household name among Palestinians and Arabs across the Middle East, inspiring many to follow in her path.
Her live television reporting and signoffs became iconic for those who wanted to emulate her, said Dalia Hatuqa, a Palestinian American journalist and friend of Ms. Abu Akleh’s.
“I know of a lot of girls who grew up basically standing in front of a mirror and holding their hair brushes and pretending to be Shireen,” Ms. Hatuqa said. “That’s how lasting and important her presence was.”
Among them was her 27-year-old niece, Lina Abu Akleh. As a young girl, she would take her aunt’s written reports and recite them into her pink Barbie phone.
“I always told her, ‘I don’t know if I have the courage and strength that you do,’ and she would say it’s not easy, it’s a very hard job,” Lina Abu Akleh said.
Her death also illustrated the dangers Palestinian journalists face doing their jobs, whether in the occupied West Bank, in Gaza or inside Israel, she said.
In a 2017 interview with the Palestinian television channel An-Najah NBC, she was asked whether she was ever afraid of being shot.
“Of course I get scared,” she said. “In a specific moment you forget that fear. We don’t throw ourselves to death. We go and we try to find where we can stand and how to protect the team with me before I think about how I am going to go up on the screen and what I am going to say.”
The Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to Britain, Husam Zomlot, called her the “most prominent Palestinian journalist.”
Women lighting candles in memory of Ms. Abu Akleh in Bethlehem on Wednesday.Credit…Hazem Bader/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Abu Akleh family became known widely in Palestinian society because of Ms. Abu Akleh.
“Everyone knows who Shireen is,” said her cousin, Fadi Abu Akleh. “Whenever I introduce myself people ask me, ‘How is Shireen related to you?’”
She lived in Ramallah, West Bank and Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, she lived with her brother and his family, including two nieces and a nephew, to whom she was very devoted, her cousin said.
“She was my best friend, my second mom, my travel companion,” Lina Abu Akleh said. “She was my everything.”
Their last trip together was to New York to spend the Christmas holidays with relatives in the United States.
Ms. Abu Akleh recently spent several weeks in the United States, returning to Ramallah about a month ago. But she never seems to have thought seriously about living in the United States, Mr. Daraghmeh said.
Al Jazeera once sent her to the United States to work. After three months, she returned to Ramallah.
“When she got back, she said: ‘I can breathe now. Everything in the U.S. is technical and complicated,’” Mr. Daraghmeh recalled. “‘Here life is simple. I love Palestine. I want to stay here.’”
A state funeral procession will be held on Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, departing from the presidential headquarters and with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in attendance, according to the president’s office.
She will be buried on Friday in Jerusalem in a cemetery next to her mother.
“Shireen was a trailblazer,” Ms. Hatuqa said. “I’m just sad that she won’t be around to continue to lead in this industry.”
Raja Abdulrahim reported from Jerusalem, and Ben Hubbard from Doha, Qatar. Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting from Nazareth, Israel. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
