Hundreds of colleagues and friends have attended the funeral of a popular and widely respected Palestinian video journalist who was killed as he covered Friday’s mass border protests in the Gaza Strip.



Yasser Murtaja, 31, was shot despite wearing a flak jacket with clear press markings as he filmed in thick black smoke from burning tyres set alight by protesters in Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis. He was one of at least nine Palestinians killed by Israeli fire at various points along the border during the day.

Friday’s deaths brought to 31 the total of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past week.

Q&A What is the history of the Palestinian reconciliation efforts? Show Hide The two main Palestinian parties – the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamist militant group Hamas – have run separate governments in the West Bank and Gaza respectively since 2007. The situation emerged after Hamas defeated Fatah in parliamentary elections in 2006. Fatah refused to recognise the result, leading to a near-civil war that saw Hamas push Fatah out of Gaza. Numerous attempts at reconciliation have ensued but the latest effort looks the most serious yet. The issue of who controls the borders and runs government ministries is a key test, not least in loosening the Israeli blockade on Gaza, imposed after Hamas took control.

Responsibility for land border crossings – in a coastal strip without a commercial sea port or airport – is crucial, as Palestinians and goods can only cross by these checkpoints. Both Egypt and Israel will want to ensure that no arms reach Hamas and other groups.

The Israeli military, which insists that it fires only at “instigators” involved in attacks on soldiers, said it was investigating Murtaja’s death. It added that its troops were “operating in accordance with clear rules of engagement” and that it did “not intentionally target journalists”.

Murtaja’s body, draped in a Palestinian flag, was carried from the principal al-Omari mosque in Gaza City to the cemetery. After the burial, freelance photojournalist Shadi al-Assar, described how his friend – who was married with a two-year-old son – had been standing with him about 100 metres from the border fence when he decided to go into the smoke to get a better shot.

“Some time later I saw some of the young guys carrying him out on a stretcher. I wanted to take a picture of it and then I realised it was Yasser, my friend.” He and others had removed the jacket and uncovered a small entry wound in his left side. “I thought it was a light injury,” said Assar. But Murtaja, who was taken by ambulance to Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, died in the early hours of Saturday.

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Assar, 35, added: “He was a good guy, always smiling and loved by everybody. He was very ambitious, always looking for a better shot.” Like many Gazans of his generation, Murtaja had never been out of the Strip.

One of the first journalists to use camera drones in Gaza, Murtaja founded Ain Media, a TV production company that has done work for foreign clients including the BBC and Al Jazeera English. Under a drone image of the Gaza port that he posted on Facebook, he wrote: “I wished I could take this photo from the sky, not from land. My name is Yasser Murtaja, I am 30 years old. I live in Gaza City. I have never travelled.”

Although Murtaja is understood to have been independent of all political factions, the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh attended his funeral. He said the weekly protests – described as the “Return March” – represented a “battle of truth and awareness. Yasser held his camera to direct the arrows of truth to convey the image of the besieged people.”

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The 31 deaths in the past eight days include 19 Palestinians who were killed in the previous mass demonstrations on March or died subsequently of their wounds, along with two armed militants shot dead by Israeli troops in a separate border incident.

Hamas has admitted that five of those killed on 30 March were members of its military wing, while Israel has said that 10 of the 19 dead were identified as belonging to Hamas or other factions.

The protests are expected to continue over the next month and scheduled to reach their climax in mid-May, when Palestinians commemorate the 70th anniversary of the nakba, or catastrophe, when more than 700,000 were driven out or fled their homes in what is now Israel during the war of 1948.</s>A Palestinian journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces while covering protests along the Israeli border in Gaza late Friday.

Photos show Yasser Murtaja, 31, wearing a "press" vest as he was evacuated during the clashes after being shot. He died of his injuries shortly afterwards.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate report that six journalists, all of whom they say were easily identifiable as press, were shot by Israeli forces firing over the border on Friday, including Murtaja.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces told BuzzFeed News that they were investigating Murtaja's death, but said that journalists were not intentionally targeted. The spokesperson said IDF troops were working to protect the security fence with Israel from Hamas, which they blamed for inciting "tens of thousands" of people to approach and attack the fence, throwing explosives and rocks at soldiers.

"IDF troops are operating in accordance with clear rules of engagement that are tailored to this scenario. The IDF uses means such as warnings, riot dispersal means, and as a last resort firing live rounds in a precise, measured way,” said the spokesperson.

“The IDF does not intentionally target journalists. The circumstances in which journalists were allegedly hit by IDF fire are not familiar to the IDF, and are being looked into," the spokesperson said.

Witnesses told the Associated Press reported Murtaja was shot below the armpit while holding his camera as protesters set fire to tires, resulting in thick black smoke.</s>Hundreds gathered in Gaza City Saturday for the funeral of Palestinian journalist Yasser Murtaja, who was killed by Israeli fire at protests at the Gaza-Israel border on Friday.

Murtaja died in the hospital after being shot by IDF fire whilst covering the second week of the Great Return March protests. His death brings the total number of casualties from Friday to 10.

READ MORE: Great Return March: 10 Palestinian protesters killed after IDF fire on Gaza border (VIDEOS)

Murtaja was wearing a press flak jacket and holding his camera when he was shot in the side of his abdomen in the town of Khuzaa. He was among six Palestinian journalists reported wounded by gunfire on Friday. Photographs of Murtaja being treated after he was shot show him wearing a press jacket.

“We were filming as youths torched tyres.” photographer Ashraf Abu Amra told Reuters. “We were about 250 meters from the fence. Israeli forces opened fire and injuries began. Yaser and I ran to film when suddenly Yaser fell to the ground.”

Murtaja was a photojournalist and filmmaker with Ain Media, which he co-founded. It creates work used by international media clients like the BBC and Al Jazeera. His shooting and subsequent death was announced by journalism groups including the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, The Gaza Center for Media Freedom, and Reporters without Borders.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was among the hundreds at the funeral Saturday. Meanwhile, dozens of journalists gathered in Manara Square in Ramallah in the West Bank to protest Murtaja’s death, the WAFA News Agency reported.

RT has contacted the IDF for comment about Murtaja’s death and reports that it fired at members of the media. An Israeli Army spokesperson told the Times of Israel it had no immediate comment on the issue.

Two weeks before he died, Murtaja shared a drone image of Gaza’s sea on Facebook, writing, “I wished I could take this photo from the sky, not from land. My name is Yasser Murtaja, I am 30 years old. I live in Gaza City. I have never traveled.”

The Great Return March is planned to continue up until the anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ on May 15, which Palestinians call the mass exodus from their land during the establishment of the state of Israel. Israelis celebrate this as Independence Day. Gaza is home to 2 million residents, many of them refugees expelled from Israel, who maintain the hope that their right to return will one day be granted.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!</s>Palestinian journalists carry a portrait of Yasser Murtaja, during his funeral in Gaza City (AFP)</s>JERUSALEM - Thousands of worshippers have turned out to bury a well-known Gaza filmmaker who was shot on Friday while covering protests on the Israel-Gaza border.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 10 people were killed during clashes between protestors and the Israeli army and more than 1300 injured, 491 of whom were shot with live bullets.

Early on Saturday morning, two Palestinians died from injuries sustained in Friday's protest on the Israel-Gaza border fence

One of them, a 31-year-old popular Gaza filmmaker, Yasser Murtaja, was shot in the lower abdomen by Israeli forces despite wearing a blue-and-white vest with the word “PRESS” emblazoned on the front.

He was one of six Palestinian journalists wounded by the Israeli army yesterday, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.

While the others have been released from hospital with minor injuries, there is one more journalist who will be operated on later on Saturday but he is not in a life-threatening situation.

The Israeli army insists it carefully targets those it shoots and has not yet provided comment as to how six journalists were injured.

The army says it thwarted multiple efforts by protestors to breach the border fence and says its troops were fired at with molotov cocktails and explosive devices.

Tensions continue to climb between the sides as each blames the other for the continuing violence as Palestinians mark six weeks of protests and demonstrations against the Israeli occupation.
A funeral is held for journalist Yasser Murtaja, shot at the fence wearing a press jacket covering tyre burnings by protestors yesterday. Israel denies targeting journalists intentionally and says it is investigating.