- Israeli forces beat the crowd of mourners carrying the coffin of Shireen Abu Akleh ahead of the funeral in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.
- Thousands of Palestinians have gathered for the funeral service before Abu Akleh is taken to the Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery, where she will be buried alongside her late parents in the next few hours.
- Abu Akleh’s body was brought from Jenin, where she was killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday, to Jerusalem via Nablus and Ramallah, in a procession where Palestinians paid their respects.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that he would take Abu Akleh’s case to the International Criminal Court in an effort to get justice for the veteran reporter, who joined Al Jazeera in 1997, and was an icon in Palestine and the wider Arab world.
Somali journalists protest Abu Akleh’s killing
Somali journalists have held protests to condemn the killing of Abu Akleh.
Journalists including representatives from the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and Somali Media Association (SOMA) demonstrated at the Maka al-Mukarama street in the capital Mogadishu.
Abu Akleh’s body arrives at the cemetery
The body of Abu Akleh has arrived at the Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery, where she will be buried next to her parents.
Thousands of mourners are marching from the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin to the cemetery for the burial.
Family and friends carry the coffin of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh outside Jaffa gate to Jerusalem’s Old City during her funeral. [File: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Abu Akleh’s funeral ‘highlighting the occupation’
Israeli actions surrounding Abu Akleh’s funeral are “highlighting the occupation”, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said.
Dekker, speaking from occupied East Jerusalem, noted that police had entered Abu Akleh’s home on the day she was killed, removed a Palestinian flag and told mourners to turn off patriotic music.
On Thursday night, Abu Akleh’s brother was summoned by Israeli authorities and told to instruct mourners not to carry Palestinian flags or to recite Palestinian chants.
“No showing of Palestinian unity, no showing of Palestinian identity,” Dekker said. “I think this is what it’s really about.”
Abu Akleh’s funeral service ends
Family, friends and mourners, some of who had never met her personally, gathered at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin for Abu Akleh’s funeral.
Bells rang out as a procession walked from the church to Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery, where Abu Akleh would be buried.
Earlier, Israeli forces beat mourners, including those carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin, near St Louis French Hospital, nearly making them drop the body.
Several were arrested for raising the Palestinian flag
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan has reported that Israeli forces have arrested at least four mourners, including at least two men for raising the Palestinian flag in occupied East Jerusalem.
“Two men were arrested for actually raising the Palestinian flag. That’s actually illegal under Israeli law,” he said.
“Now when Shireen’s car carrying the casket actually came in, there was a Palestinian flag on display in the back of the car. The Israeli police actually smashed that window in and took the flag.”
Family and friends carrying the coffin of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh are attacked by Israeli forces. [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
Rights Lawyer: Abu Akleh’s killing a ‘blow to the world’
Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu has called Abu Akleh’s killing “a blow to the world”.
Her killing is a “blow to the world internationally, it’s a blow to us nationally, and it’s a blow to me personally”, she said.
“She went into the hearts of every single Palestinian, and I dare say every Arab household because of her touching reporting in the way that she had of bringing to life the reality of Israel’s brutal occupation,” Buttu added.
“Shireen is not the first journalist to be killed by Israel, and I fear that she’s not going to be the last either. It’s now time for accountability and we must demand that Israel be held accountable because it is Israel who is responsible,” she said.
Abu Akleh’s niece: Israel ‘still trying to silence’ her
Abu Akleh’s niece, Lina Abu Akleh, has said Israeli forces are “still trying to silence” her aunt and the mourners gathered for the funeral.
“Even a funeral in our country in Palestine doesn’t go peacefully, sadly there were multiple Israeli checkpoints on the way to the hospital prohibiting cars from reaching the hospital, also they are limiting the number of cars that can reach Jaffa Gate next to the church,” she told Al Jazeera.
“This goes to show that even though they silenced her by assassinating her they are still trying to silence and stop the people from being with us, and bringing their love and support to her, and honoring her legacy during this horrible tragedy,” she said.
Lina Abu Akleh spoke to Al Jazeera shortly before Israeli forces beat mourners trying to accompany Abu Akleh’s body from the hospital to the funeral.
Israeli forces arrest a man near Jaffa Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City during the funeral of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Priest: Abu Akleh will have ‘influence all over the world’
A Christian priest who will participate in Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral told Al Jazeera before the ceremony she will “have influence all over the world”.
“We don’t believe in the love of power, we believe in the power of love,” Father Fadi Diab, who will conduct the funeral, told Al Jazeera.
Thousands of mourners gathered at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin in occupied East Jerusalem for the funeral.
“Nobody can compare the Palestinian case with any other violence in the world or any other war because any nation that had a war, they still have their identity, their land but we lost our land, our identity,” Fadi Diab said.
Abu Akleh’s body arrives at the church
A hearse carrying Abu Akleh’s body has arrived at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin in occupied East Jerusalem.
The arrival followed Israeli forces attacking mourners who tried to accompany Abu Akleh’s body to the church.
Israeli security forces beat mourners carrying Shireen Abu Akleh’s coffin on Friday [File: Ammar Awad/Reuters]
‘They wanted to walk with her body’
Reporting from East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said Israel forces targeted mourners because they did not want them to walk with Abu Akleh’s coffin.
“What’s going on is there was some pushing and shoving between the Israeli army and the people who wanted to take Shireen’s body to the church,” he said.
“They wanted to walk with her body. They didn’t want to go in the cars. The Israeli army said that they were not allowed.”
Israeli security forces beat mourners
Israeli security forces beat mourners as they began to move Abu Akleh’s coffin from the St Louis French Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara, commenting on the attack, said “why does that require this type of violence?”
Abu Akleh and the journalists killed by Israeli forces
At least 45 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since 2000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Union places the death toll higher at 55 killed.
Press freedom advocates have long said Israel acts with impunity when it comes to the targeting of journalists. In April, three organizations brought a complaint about the killing and maiming of media workers to the International Criminal Court.
Israel ‘investigating soldier’ in journalist Abu Akleh’s killing
The Israeli military is increasingly accepting the possibility that one of its soldiers killed veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, with reports emerging that Israel is investigating the likelihood that one of its soldiers shot her during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
The admission that an Israeli soldier could be responsible is evidence that the Israelis are backtracking from their initial position that it was likely that Palestinian fighters in Jenin killed Abu Akleh.
Israel is conducting an investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing, Israeli army sources told the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post newspapers.
Funeral to be held in Abu Akleh’s hometown of Jerusalem
A three-day memorial procession, that began on Wednesday, when Al Jazeera journalist Abu Akleh was fatally shot by Israeli forces while reporting on a raid of the Jenin refugee camp, will culminate on Friday with a funeral in her hometown of Jerusalem.
Friday’s events are expected to begin with a procession from the St Louis French Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where Abu Akleh’s body remained overnight, to the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, where a funeral service will be held in the afternoon at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Virgin.
Abu Akleh, who was killed at the age of 51, will then be buried next to her parents at the nearby Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery.
Mourners gather ahead of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral. [Faiz Abu Rmeleh]
