Israeli
troops raided the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down amid
a widening campaign by Israel targeting the Qatar-funded broadcaster as it
covers the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Al
Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel
ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. It follows an extraordinary order
issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in
East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel
and blocking its websites.
The
move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet
operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, territories that the
Palestinians hope to have for their future state.
There
was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces. The Israeli
military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Al
Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in
neighboring Jordan.
Armed
Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be
shut for 45 days, saying that staff needed to leave immediately. The network
later aired what appeared to be Israel troops tearing down a banner on a
balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of
Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli
forces in May 2022.
“There
is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier
told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. “I
ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”
Al-Omari
later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in
the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.
The
Palestinians secured limited self-rule in Gaza and parts of the occupied West
Bank through the 1993 Oslo agreements. While Israel occupies and controls vast
areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full Palestinian political and
security control, making the Israeli raid on the Al Jazeera office that much
more surprising.
The
Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the Israeli raid and order.
“This
arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and
media outlets,” it said.
The
Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank. Its forces were
driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.
The
network has reported on the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants’
initial cross-border attack on Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in
the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s grinding ground offensive that has killed and
wounded members of its staff. It remains unclear whether the Israeli military
would target Al Jazeera’s operation in Gaza as well.
While
including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, Al Jazeera’s Arabic
arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional
militant groups.
That
has led to Israeli claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
that the network has “harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers.”
Those claims have been vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main funder,
Qatar, has been key in negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a
cease-fire to end the war.
An
order closing Al Jazeera in Israel has been repeatedly renewed in the time
since, but it hadn’t as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.
The
war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians,
in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They abducted another 250 people and
are still holding around 100 hostages. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at
least 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t
differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The
closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office also comes as tensions continue to rise
over a possible expansion of the war to Lebanon, where electronic devices
exploded last week in a likely sabotage campaign by Israel targeting the Shiite
militia Hezbollah.
The
explosions Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people — including two
children — and wounded around 3,000 others.