Israeli troops raided the offices of satellite news network Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank early today and ordered their closure.
Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language channel broadcast live footage of Israeli troops instructing the bureau in Ramallah to shut for 45 days.
Its closure follows an Israeli police raid in May on the network’s premises in East Jerusalem during which equipment was seized, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. However, the Qatari-backed news organization has continued operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air that it would be shut down, saying that staff had to leave immediately.
“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” a soldier told bureau chief Walid al-Omari on air. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”
Omari said that Israeli troops had begun confiscating documents and equipment as tear-gas fire and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.
Speaking later to the Associated Press news agency, he said that the Israeli military had cited laws dating back to the British mandate of Palestine to support its closure order.
Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Ramallah is supposedly under full Palestinian control, but the raid provided further evidence of Israel’s contempt for such restraints.
In a posting on Twitter, Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi later branded Al Jazeera “the mouthpiece of Hamas and Hezbollah.”
The network has reported continuously on Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the invasion.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced today’s Israeli raid, saying: “This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets,” while the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “deeply concerned.”
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