Israeli forces brutally assault mourners at Palestinian journalist Ghufran Warasneh funeral

Israeli forces brutally attacked the funeral of a Palestinian journalist just hours after she was killed on Wednesday morning.

Ghufran Warasneh, a 31-year-old journalist from the Al-Arroub refugee camp near the occupied city of Hebron, was shot on her first day of work on Wednesday.

She was taken to the nearby Ahli hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later. Her funeral procession took place shortly after.

Israeli forces immediately prevented the funeral from taking place by refusing to allow mourners to enter the refugee camp.

Mourners were also attacked with sound grenades and stun grenades.

By the time her funeral had started, Israeli forces were still in the refugee camp, suppressing protests against her killing, Warsaneh’s cousin Abdel Rahman Warsaneh told The New Arab.

Israeli occupation forces attack Palestinian mourners and fired tear gas and sound grenades toward them while taking part in the funeral of Palestinian journalist Ghufran Warasna who was murdered by the Israeli occupation forces in Hebron. pic.twitter.com/9UhkvziyNA

— DAYS OF PALESTINEᅠ (@DaysOfPal) June 1, 2022

"A large number of people accompanied Ghufran's body from Al-Ahli hospital in Hebron to the [Al-Arroub] refugee camp," he said.

During the funeral, the Israeli army had closed entry to the camp and turned back cars.

"The funeral was very large, there were a lot of people and that made the soldiers insist on not letting us into the camp," he added.

"At the end, a small number of us took the body on foot and crossed around the line of cars towards the camp. The soldiers threw stun grenades and tear gas canisters and fired some shots at the ground, between our feet, but we continued and more men joined."

Israeli forces blocked the way for the pallbearers, leading to a struggle as a crowd of mourners tried to escort her body to her resting place.

"Eventually we got through and they couldn't stop us, they had to let us through," Warsaneh said, despite Israeli forces pushing the pall bearers.

Immediately after her killing, Israeli media reported that Warasneh was wielding a knife and tried to stab Israeli soldiers, without providing evidence.

Her family and colleagues denied the Israeli claims. A witness from the Al-Arroub camp told Palestinian media that Warasneh was shot despite standing two metres from any Israeli soldier.

Warasneh is the second Palestinian journalist killed by Israeli forces in less than a month, after the killing of Aljazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in the Jenin refugee camp on 11 May.

During her funeral, Israeli forces assaulted mourners, with her coffin nearly falling to the floor as a result of the attacks.

With Warasneh death, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2022 has risen to 56.

The New Arab's West Bank correspondent Qassam Muaddi contributed to this report.