THIS is the shocking moment Israeli forces attack mourners at the funeral of an Al Jazeera journalist causing the coffin to topple to the ground.

Shireen Abu Aqleh, 51, estaba killed earlier this week while reporting from the West Bank city of Jenin with Israel being accused of her assassination.

After a memorial service on Thursday, the journalist’s body was kept in the morgue at St Joseph’s Hospital.

And while thousands flocked to Jerusalem to pay their respects to the Aqleh, disturbing footage from the funeral today shows Israeli security forces attacking a crowd of mourners.

A group of people carrying the casket from the hospital towards a church in the Old City can be seen being hit by the forces with batons.

At one point the coffin topples to the ground as chaos endures with the officers also firing tear gas.

Others can be seen waving Palestinian flags and chanting.

Israel had reportedly forbidden the casket from being carried to the church.

Israel previously claimed it was “likely” the journalist was killed by Palestinian gunfire but a Qatar-based TV channel said Israeli forces shot Abu Aqleh deliberately and “in cold blood”.

According to photographer from the AFP agency, Abu Aqleh was wearing a press flak jacket when she was shot.

The photographer reported that Israeli forces were firing in the area and they then saw Abu Aqleh’s body lying on the ground.

There were no Palestinian gunmen visible in the area when Abu Aqleh was killed, the photographer added.

The Israeli army confirmed it had conducted an operation in the camp early Wednesday but firmly denied it had deliberately targeted a reporter.

It said there was an exchange of fire between suspects and security forces.

The army said it was “investigating the event and looking into the possibility that journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen”.