JERUSALEM — Israeli police officers on Friday assaulted mourners at the funeral procession of a prominent Palestinian journalist killed this week in the occupied West Bank, forcing pallbearers to nearly drop the coffin.
Video showed police officers in Jerusalem beating and kicking a mourner beside the coffin containing the body of the journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, forcing him to the ground and the pallbearers backward. Many around them waved Palestinian flags.
In a statement, the Israeli police said they had been “forced to act” during the funeral because “rioters began throwing stones toward the policemen” and some mourners had been chanting “nationalist incitement.”
Ms. Abu Akleh, a prominent Palestinian American journalist, was shot dead on Wednesday morning in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli raid on the city of Jenin. Witnesses said she was killed by an Israeli soldier.
The Israeli Army said on Friday that while it was possible that Ms. Abu Akleh was mistakenly killed by Israeli fire, its initial investigation suggested that she might also have been hit by a Palestinian gunman.
This is a developing story.
