(Washington) The United States is “deeply disturbed” by the “intrusion of the Israeli police” during the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, said Friday the head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken.
Posted at 6:19 p.m.
“We were deeply disturbed to see the images of the Israeli police intrusion into the funeral procession” of the journalist, said the secretary of state in a press release.
When the coffin was taken out of Saint Joseph’s Hospital in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian sector of the city occupied and annexed by the Jewish State, the Israeli police burst into the premises of the establishment and tried to disperse a crowd waving Palestinian flags.
The coffin almost fell from the hands of the carriers jostled by the police, but was caught in extremis, according to images broadcast by local television which also show the police using truncheons.
“Every family deserves to be able to bury their loved ones with dignity and freedom,” said Antony Blinken, who called for calm and warned against “any action that could aggravate tensions”.
“We have all seen these images, they are deeply disturbing,” said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki earlier, also lamenting an “intrusion into what should have been a calm procession”.
Al Jazeera TV figure Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head on Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory. Israel since 1967.