Israeli army closes Al Jazeera bureau in West Bank

Raid was broadcast live on air as troops tore down poster of Shireen Abu Akleh, killed in 2022

Israeli troops raid the Ramallah bureau of Al Jazeera. AP

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The Israeli army raided news network Al Jazeera's bureau in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday and ordered its closure for 45 days, the Qatari broadcaster said.

Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered Al Jazeera's office in Ramallah and handed a 45-day closure order to bureau chief Walid Al Omari, who read it out live on air. During the raid, soldiers also tore down a poster of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist killed by the army during a raid in the city of Jenin in 2022.

No reason was given for the closure.

In May, Israel's parliament voted to shut down Al Jazeera within the country. The channel's East Jerusalem and Nazareth offices were raided and equipment seized, and it was banned broadcasting from in Israel. The ban is subject to renewal every 45 days.

“Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth,” Mr Al Omari, who was forced out of the office, said in a statement shared by Al Jazeera.

Its Ramallah correspondent Nida Ibrahim said the raid came as “no surprise” after the May vote, but the team “did not expect it to happen today”.

“We’ve heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau. We’ve heard the government discussing this, asking the military ruler in the occupied West Bank to close down and shut down the channel,” Ms Ibrahim told colleagues in Qatar.

Gaza's government media office called the order a “deafening scandal”.

“We call on all media organisations and groups that deal with human rights in the world to condemn this heinous crime … that is a blatant violation of press and media freedom,” it said.

Israeli officials have described the network as an “incitement machine” and accused its employees of terrorism, including participating in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that started the war.

Several Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, including the son of Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh.

Last month, the outlet accused Israel of a “systematic targeting campaign against the network's journalists and their families” after correspondent Ismail Al Goul and cameraman Rami Al Rafi were killed in an air strike.

In 2021, the Israeli army bombed a tower where the network’s offices in Gaza were based.