After Israeli police disrupted the funeral procession of veteran Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, tens of thousands of people flocked to Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday for her burial.

Pallbearers struggled to keep Abu Akleh’s coffin from tumbling to the ground as baton-wielding police officers surged at them, taking Palestinian flags from mourners, according to television footage.

The events left Washington “extremely concerned,” while the European Union was “appalled” by the “unnecessary force.”

The Jerusalem Red Crescent reports that 33 individuals were hurt during the parade, with six of them being hospitalized.

Six arrests were reported by Israeli police. Mourners threw “rocks and glass bottles,” according to a government official.

In a fresh shootout in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli commando was killed near the flashpoint city of Jenin. The Islamic Jihad group said its fighters were responsible.

Abu Akleh’s death during an Israeli raid in Jenin on Wednesday has Israel and Palestine exchanging blame.

According to the Israeli army, an interim inquiry was unable to determine who fired the fatal bullet, citing errant Palestinian gunfire or Israeli sniper fire aiming at militants as probable causes.

According to Al Jazeera, Israel murdered her “deliberately” and “in cold blood.”

The UN Security Council denounced the assassination in a rare unanimous statement on Friday, calling for “an early, complete, transparent, and impartial investigation,” according to diplomats, who highlighted that the phrasing was particularly controversial during talks.

Abu Akleh, a Christian Palestinian American, was a well-known journalist whose funeral drew large crowds.

As her body left St Joseph’s hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli police stormed mourners who had hoisted Palestinian flags.

The Jewish state forbids public displays of Palestinian flags and routinely intervenes against those who parade them at demonstrations or other gatherings.

– ‘Inhumanity’ –

Police said they were compelled to intervene as “violent rioters” seeking to interrupt the funeral’s lawful path after warning the gathering to stop singing “nationalistic” songs.

Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent Palestinian official, claimed the police attack on pallbearers demonstrated Israel’s “inhumanity.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the photos of Israeli police intruding into her funeral procession today were “very troubling.”

“Every family deserves to be able to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”

The EU tweeted that it was “appalled by the violence in the St Joseph Hospital compound and the level of unnecessary force exercised by Israeli police throughout the funeral procession.”

US President Joe Biden discussed ways to address the rising violence in White House talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

“The leaders… discussed urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric and reduce tensions,” the White House said in a statement.

The French consulate general said “police violence” at the hospital had been “deeply shocking”.

And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply disturbed” by the violence, according to a spokesman.

Thousands of Palestinian mourners attempted to follow the coffin towards the cemetery just outside the walled Old City.

Police briefly attempted to prevent them but ultimately relented, allowing thousands to stream towards the graveside, and did not intervene as Palestinian flags were waved, AFP reporters said.

– ‘Sister of all Palestinians’ –
In a sign of Abu Akleh’s prominence, she was given what was described as a full state memorial service on Thursday at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s compound in Ramallah before her body was transferred to Jerusalem.

“Her loss is a wound in our hearts,” said mourner Hadil Hamdan.

The United States, European Union and United Nations have backed calls for a full investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing.

The Palestinian Authority has rejected Israel’s public plea for a joint investigation.

Protests sprang out in Turkey, Sudan, and other countries in response to Abu Akleh’s death.

Her brother Antoun Abu Akleh told AFP that she was “the sister of all Palestinians.”

– New violence occurred in the West Bank, with a raid and fighting taking place near the Jenin refugee camp.

The Israeli officer killed was identified as Noam Raz, a 47-year-old father of six. Police said he was wounded “during a shootout with armed terrorists,” and later died.

The Palestinian health ministry said 13 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, one of them seriously.

Israeli forces surrounded the home of a suspect, besieging two men inside and firing anti-tank grenades at the residence, according to an AFP photographer.

Tensions were already high following a spate of anti-Israeli violence that claimed the lives of at least 18 people, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainians, since March 22.

According to an AFP tally, 31 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs perished during the same period, including attackers and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.