Today, Friday, the Israeli occupation forces prevented the exhumation of the body of colleague Sherine Abu Aqleh from the French hospital, and suppressed the funeral procession and beat the mourners.
The Israeli occupation police stormed the car transporting the body of colleague Shireen and removed the Palestinian flag from the body.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that the storming of the funeral procession by the occupation police resulted in many injuries among the mourners
Later, the body was transferred to the Roman Catholic Church in occupied Jerusalem, and the funeral ceremonies began.
The occupation police also assaulted the participants in the funeral ceremonies of colleague Sherine in the vicinity of the Roman Catholic Church.
Earlier, the Israeli occupation subjected some of its soldiers to investigation regarding the assassination of Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh, and at the same time it restricted her funeral arrangements, and while new testimonies regarding the crime emerged, Washington entered the line and expressed a new position.
The Israeli Radio and Television Corporation said that an army investigation revealed that Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed by shooting from inside a jeep.
The Washington Post quoted an Israeli military official as saying that the army is investigating 3 shooting incidents by its soldiers during the killing of Abu Aqila.
The newspaper added that the occupation army is investigating the accusation of one of its members of killing Shireen Abu Aqleh.
The Israeli Walla website confirmed that the occupation army does not rule out, at this stage, that its forces mistakenly targeted Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh and killed her.
For its part, the American newspaper “The Wall Street Journal” quoted an Israeli military official as saying that it cannot be ruled out that the bullet that killed Al-Jazeera correspondent Shirin Abu Akleh came from the Israeli side.
He added that the army identified a shooting incident that took place the day before yesterday, Wednesday, by the Israeli side, believed to have caused the death of Abu Aqila.
In the same context, the commander of the Israeli Central Command, Major General Yehuda Fox, said – in an interview with an Israeli channel – that he does not rule out any possible reason for the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
Fox added that the Israeli soldiers fired indiscriminately at several places, and that at this stage it is not known for certain the cause of Abu Akleh’s injury.
Evidence and data
An investigation by Al-Jazeera, by analyzing the data of the assassination site, revealed the presence of Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in the crosshairs of the occupation forces.
The geographic location of the clip, which shows the shooting from Palestinian resistance fighters, indicated that they were 260 meters away from the place of Shirin Abu Aqleh, and the two places were separated by residential buildings of varying heights, which excludes the existence of a clear shooting range between the two places.
New field testimonies have emerged confirming Israel’s involvement in the assassination of journalist Abu Akleh and denying the presence of Palestinian gunmen near the site of the operation.
The French Press Agency quoted its photographer in Jenin as saying that he did not see Palestinian fighters near the place where Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Aqleh was martyred.
The agency added that its photographer confirmed that the shooting was by the Israeli army, and that he saw the corpse of our colleague Shireen, who was wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof jacket on which the word “press” was written.
The testimony of the Agence France-Presse photographer is added to the testimonies of other journalists and photographers who refuted the Israeli story, which initially tried to evade responsibility for killing Abu Aqila and blame it on Palestinian gunmen.
Meanwhile, the regional spokesman for the US State Department, Samuel Warburg, said that the United States is ready to provide any assistance in the ongoing investigations into the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh.
Warburg added – in an interview with Al Jazeera – that Washington does not believe that the International Criminal Court is the most appropriate place to consider such a case.
He also stressed that the United States expects full accountability for the perpetrators of the assassination of journalist Sherine Abu Aqleh, stressing that Washington will closely follow the ongoing investigations into the circumstances of her assassination.
funeral arrangements
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Tony Abu Aqleh, brother of the late colleague Sherine, said that the occupation forces refused the presence of any Palestinian flag inside the family’s house.
He added, “The Israeli occupation forces are waiting for the funeral, and we hope that it will pass peacefully.”
Abu Aqleh pledged that the family would use all means to bring the perpetrators to justice, “and we will resort to legal advice and demand a transparent international investigation with the participation of the Palestinian Authority.”
“The issue of holding the killers of Sherine Abu Aqle to account is our cause and the cause of the free world,” Al-Jazeera channel director Ahmed Al-Yafei said.
Al-Yafei – who participated in the funeral of the deceased in occupied Jerusalem – pledged that Al Jazeera would continue to cover the Palestinian issue, and said, “We will hold the killer of Sherine Abu Aqila to account.”
On the other hand, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that hundreds of Israeli police officers are deployed, openly and secretly, to accompany the funeral of Shireen Abu Akleh.
The Times of Israel said that the Israeli police were preparing for possible disturbances early Friday, before Abu Akleh’s funeral.
It is scheduled to complete the procedures for burial of colleague Shireen Abu Aqleh today in occupied Jerusalem.
Yesterday, Thursday, an official and public procession took place the body of the martyred colleague from Istishari Hospital in Ramallah to the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency.
In the midst of a large public presence along the way, the body of the martyr was wrapped in the Palestinian flag, and transported in a military vehicle, where an official funeral and farewell ceremony was held for her.
The Israeli police surrounded the mourners of the corpse of colleague Shireen Abu Aqleh in front of the French Hospital in Jerusalem, and the occupation forces also obstructed the funeral procession heading to Jerusalem, according to what Al-Jazeera correspondent reported.
And the Israeli occupation forces assassinated our colleague, Shireen Abu Aqleh, while she was on her way to cover the situation and developments in Jenin camp, on Wednesday morning.
Al-Jazeera producer Ali Al-Samudi, who was targeted with colleague Sherine, was also wounded by shooting him in the back.
The crime was met with angry Arab and international reactions, as governments, unions and organizations demanded an investigation into the crime and hold its perpetrators accountable.
Today, Friday, the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, said that the Israeli occupation is killing journalists and media professionals because they expose its crimes and plans.
Sabri stressed that “the condemnation is firm, and the crime of the occupation authorities is clear in the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh.”
