Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera said on Sunday that Israeli forces raided its office in the West Bank’s Ramallah city, ordering the bureau to shut down within 45 days.
The network’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari said that the closure order accused Al Jazeera of “incitement to and support of terrorism”.
“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” the troops reportedly told al-Omari. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Jivara Budeiri said that Israeli forces confiscated their cameras. Videos on social media later showed the troops tearing down photos of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh from the facade of the office.
Akleh was allegedly shot in the head in May 2022 when she was covering an Israeli raid in Jenin, West Bank.
The closure order comes against the backdrop of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has been ongoing for nearly a year.
Israel’s military offensive against Gaza began on October 7 after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,200 persons and taking over 200 hostages. Since then, Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on Gaza. The attacks have killed more than 40 thousand persons, including 16,500 children.
In August, Israel also launched military operations in the West Bank. At least 652 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli fire since the war in Gaza began, reported the Associated Press.
Nida Ibrahim, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the West Bank, said that the Israeli military’s raids and closure order come “as no surprise”.
“We have heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau,” she said. “We have heard the government discussing this, asking the military ruler in the occupied West Bank to close down and shut down the channel. But we [had] not been expecting it to happen today.”
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned the “arbitrary military decision” and said it is considered “a new violation against journalistic and media works, which has been exposing the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people”.
“We affirm our full solidarity with Al Jazeera and place our headquarters and capabilities at the service of our colleagues working there,” said the syndicate.
The Israeli military action comes a week after Tel Aviv announced it would revoke the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country.
In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Al Jazeera “will be closed in Israel”.