Posted on 05/12/22
| News Source: JPost
The funeral of Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh began on Thursday in Ramallah. Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas said he will go to the ICC to "punish the criminals" as her body travels from Ramallah in the West Bank to Jerusalem where she will be buried.
The Palestinian Authority confirmed on Thursday that it won't allow Israel to examine the bullet that killed Abu Akleh, even though it is one of the steps needed to determine culpability in her death.
It has also rebuffed requests by Israel to hold a joint investigation into Abu Akleh's death. The veteran journalist, well known throughout the Arab world for her coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was fatally shot in the also she was shot in the ear while wearing a helmet by a sniper while covering an IDF raid on Jenin on Wednesday.
"Israel has requested a joint investigation and to be handed over [sic] the bullet that assassinated the journalist Shireen, we refused that, and we affirmed that our investigation would be completed independently," Palestinian Authority Minister and General Authority of Civil Affairs head Hussein al-Sheikh tweeted on Thursday morning.
"We will inform her family, #USA, #Qatar and all official authorities and the public of the results of the investigation with high transparency. All of the indicators, the evidence and the witnesses confirm her assassination by #Israeli special units," al-Sheikh emphasized.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz had reached out to the PA in the hours after her death and offered to hold a joint investigation.