Israeli Forces Beat Up Mourners Carrying Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh's Body
The clash broke out near St Joseph’s Hospital in east Jerusalem.
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Masked Israeli forces on Friday, 13 May, thrashed Palestinian mourners, who were carrying the casket of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in Jerusalem. The mourners were attacked by masked police officers.
Videos of the incident, capturing horrific visuals, have gone viral on social media.
Visuals show bereaved Palestinians nearly dropping the casket as Israeli officers charge at them.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, expressed its condemnation of the Al Jazeera reporter's murder and the injury of another journalist in Jenin, Palestine, calling for an "thorough, transparent and independent" probe.
"The members of the Security Council called for an immediate, thorough, transparent, and fair and impartial investigation into her killing, and stressed the need to ensure accountability," the statement read.
Akleh was hit by a bullet on Wednesday while covering Israeli raids in Jenin and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Akleh's body was taken to the Mount Zion Protestant Cemetery in Jerusalem, where she would be buried next to her parents.
Meanwhile, Israeli Police said that Palestinian rioters were hurling stones on the hospital premises. "The policemen were forced to act," the authorities claimed.
Palestinian authorities are yet to comment on the matter.
Outrage and calls for an international probe into the killing of the Al Jazeera journalist have been growing ever since the Palestinian health ministry announced that the Israeli forces shot dead Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank.
(With inputs from Reuters.)
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