Thousands of mourners gathered in the Palestinian city of Ramallah on Thursday to pay their last respect to Shireen Abu Akleh.
Abu Akleh was the journalist who was shot and killed on Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank.
Abu Akleh, who is due to be buried on Friday, was well-known in the Arab world for her reporting from the Middle East for the Al Jazeera news channel.
A leading Palestinian official rejected Israel’s request for a joint investigation into the death of Abu Akleh.
She was allegedly shot during a raid on Palestinian militants in the city of Jenin in spite of wearing clothing that clearly identified her as a member of the press.
Hussein al-Sheikh, an adviser to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, reiterated that the Palestinian investigation into the killing would be “completed independently” in a tweet on Thursday.
He also ruled out handing over the bullet that killed Abu Akleh to Israeli investigators.
The Israeli army reported fierce clashes with dozens of Palestinian militants during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Wednesday.
Israel Defence Forces Chief of General Staff Aviv Kochavi said that it could not immediately be determined which side was responsible for the deadly shooting.
Israel’s army previously suggested Abu Akleh could have been hit by Palestinian militants.
Al Jazeera, on the other hand, accused Israel of cold-blooded murder.
Palestinian President Abbas called the killing a crime of execution and said that the case would be referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. (dpa/NAN)
