Aisar al-Ais
12 May 2022•Update: 12 May 2022
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The funeral procession of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh took place in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.
It headed from the Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah toward the Palestinian presidency headquarters, according to the Anadolu Agency reporter on the ground.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along with top Palestinian officials were present at the memorial service.
Hundreds of Palestinians crowded the roads to honor Abu Akleh.
Speaking at the funeral ceremony, Abbas held Israel responsible for the killing of the journalist.
"The occupation will not hide the truth and the crime should not go unpunishment," he said.
Abbas also said Palestine will not accept a joint probe with Israel into the killing of Abu Akleh.
"We reject a joint investigation with the Israeli authorities because they are the ones who committed the crime and we do not trust them,” he stated.
Abbas vowed to take the case to the International Criminal Court.
"We will immediately go to the International Criminal Court to punish the criminals," he said.
Praising Abu Akleh, Abbas said she was “an honest and patriotic voice and she conveyed the suffering of Jerusalem and the camps.”
Abu Akleh was decided to be honored with the Star of Jerusalem medal, he said.
Her burial will take place in occupied East Jerusalem on Friday.
Abu Akleh was born in Jerusalem in 1971 and over the past two and a half decades, she was one of Al Jazeera’s elite journalists covering the situation across the occupied Palestinian territories.
Al Jazeera accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing its veteran journalist Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, while the Israeli army said that its initial assessments indicated that Abu Akleh was "killed by Palestinian gunmen."
Also, the Palestinian Authority confirmed that Abu Akleh was “shot dead by the Israeli army.”
* Writing by Ahmed Asmar and Bassel Barakat
