The coffin was saved at the last moment while the police intervened in the coffin. Al Jazeera, Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses reported that Abu Akile died as a result of fire opened by Israeli soldiers.
The intervention of Israeli soldiers against those carrying the coffin was marked by the funeral ceremony held in Jerusalem and attended by thousands of people shouting “Palestine” slogans.
Before the church ceremony, Israeli police intervened with batons to those who took Abu Akile’s coffin from the hospital in East Jerusalem and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans by marching. In the images reflected on social media, it is seen that the coffin slipped from the hands of the people who retreated towards the wall behind them due to the police batons, and was lifted up again at the last moment, just as it was about to fall to the ground.
After these scenes, the police gave permission to Abu Akile’s family to take the coffin to the church in the old city center of Jerusalem. After the church ceremony, thousands of people chanted the Palestinian national anthem and chanted “We die for Palestine to live”. Palestinian flags accompanied the procession.
Palestinians see East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, as the capital of the state they aim to establish in the future. Israel, which has declared Jerusalem as its capital, argues that East Jerusalem is a part of its capital. Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem was not recognized by the international community. The Israeli police are known for their harsh stance against the actions that evoke the Palestinian state in this region.
Israeli police: Nationalist incitement
In the statement made by the Israeli police, it was stated that the crowd gathered in front of the hospital did not listen to the warnings and “provoked a nationalist provocation” and threw stones at the police, so the police had to intervene.
Abu Akile was a widely respected journalist who has been announcing the realities of daily life in the Palestinian territories under Israeli military rule for 25 years. The journalist, who joined the Al Jazeera Arabic service in 1997, became internationally known for his reports from the region during the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s.
Allegations of “deliberately killed”
Abu Akile, 51, died on Wednesday when he was hit in the head by a bullet while following an Israeli military operation in the city of Jenin in the West Bank. He explained that there were vests with the inscription “Press”.
The employers of the reporters, Al Jazeera TV, and the Palestinian Autonomous Administration accused Israel of deliberately killing Abu Akile in their statements right after the incident.
The Israeli police entered the house of Abu Akile’s family in East Jerusalem on the day he was killed, and intervened in other mourning events to collect Palestinian flags.
Forensic medicine results will be sent to the ICC
The Israeli army initially argued that the bullet came from the Palestinian side, but later backed off from this statement and stated that it was not clear exactly how the incident took place.
Israel asked the Palestinian Autonomous Administration to hand over the bullet that caused the death for forensic examination, but the Palestinian side refused this request, stating that it would conduct the investigation itself. The Palestinian Autonomous Administration announced that it would forward the results to the International Criminal Court, which is already examining the war crimes allegations against Israel.
AP,DW/BK,TY