On Friday, Israeli police stormed a crowd of mourners at the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, beating protesters with batons which caused the coffin to be briefly dropped.

The campaign came during a rare display of Palestinian nationalism in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and which Palestinians claim as their capital.

Thousands of mourners attended, some waving Palestinian flags and chanting "Palestine, Palestine" at Abu Aqleh's funeral. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces shot her and killed her in cold blood earlier this week while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank.

The crowd chanted, "We die for Palestine to live." Then they sang the Palestinian national anthem.

Dozens of mourners tried to walk with the coffin on foot outside the hospital to a Catholic church in the Old City.

The police said protesters at the hospital were chanting incitement against them, ignored calls to stop, and threw stones at them, forcing them to react.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said its preliminary investigation into Abu Aqleh's death showed a fierce firefight was underway in the town of Jenin in the West Bank about 200 meters from where she was killed, but it could not determine whether she was shot by Israeli forces or Palestinian militants.

Abu Aqleh was a widely respected correspondent, having spent a quarter of a century covering the harsh realities of life under Israeli military rule, now in its sixth decade with no signs of a resolution to the crisis in sight.

After the heated scene outside the hospital, the police allowed the family to transfer the coffin to a Catholic church in the Old City.

After several hours, she was buried in a cemetery outside the Old City. Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, had earlier said its General Manager Ahmed Al-Yafai would travel to Jerusalem to attend the funeral.

Israel called for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority to hand over the bullet for forensic analysis to determine who fired the lethal shot.

The Palestinian Authority refused, saying it would conduct its own investigation and send the results to the International Criminal Court, which is already investigating potential Israeli war crimes.

In a statement issued on Friday, the army said Palestinian militants recklessly fired hundreds of rounds at an Israeli military vehicle, some towards the location where Abu Aqleh was standing.

It said Israeli forces returned fire and that without analysis it could not determine responsibility for her death.

The army added, "The result of the preliminary investigation is that the source of the bullet that hit the journalist cannot be identified."

Reporters who were with Abu Aqleh said there were no clashes or militants in the nearby area when she was killed early Wednesday morning.

They were all wearing protective gear clearly identifying them as "press." It is likely that either side will cast doubt on any conclusions reached by the other party, and there appears to be no possibility of a third party conducting an independent investigation.

The Palestinian Authority and Al Jazeera accused Israel of deliberately killing Abu Aqleh, and Israel says a full investigation is needed before any conclusions are reached.

Human rights groups say Israel rarely follows up on investigations into Palestinians killed by its security forces and issues light punishments on rare occasions when convictions are made.

However, this case requires intense scrutiny because Abu Aqleh was a well-known figure and also held American citizenship.

Abu Aqleh, 51, joined Al Jazeera Arabic service in 1997 and rose to prominence covering the Second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising against Israeli rule, in the early 21st century.

She was shot in the head early Wednesday morning while covering an Israeli arrest operation in Jenin.

Police went to Abu Aqleh's family home in Jerusalem on the day she was killed and were seen on other occasions of mourning in the city removing Palestinian flags.

Palestinians from Jenin and its surroundings have carried out a series of attacks inside Israel in recent weeks, and as a result Israel has launched near-daily raids in the area, often witnessing armed battles with militants there.

Israeli forces again raided Jenin early Friday and an Associated Press photographer heard intense gunfire and explosions, saying Israeli forces had besieged a house.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 13 Palestinians were taken to hospital after being injured in the fighting, including a person shot in the stomach.

The Israeli army tweeted that Palestinians opened fire when its forces entered to arrest suspected activists.

It added that a 47-year-old member of an Israeli special commando unit was killed in the clashes.