Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV reported that Israeli forces stormed its bureau in the West Bank’s Ramallah city with a military order to close it for an initial period of 45 days on Sunday. According to the BBC, the channel aired live footage of armed and masked Israeli soldiers storming the office, adding that viewers watched as the troops hand a closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari, who read it out live on air.
In May, Israel raided Al Jazeera’s offices in Nazareth and occupied East Jerusalem, citing the Qatar-based broadcaster as a "threat to national security".
“Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth,” Omari said in comments reported by his employer, as per BBC
Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Alsaafin reported that soldiers seized the last microphone and camera from the street, and forced Omari out of the office. In a social media post about the raid, Alsaafin said the troops also pulled down a poster of Shireen Abu Aqla, an Al Jazeera reporter who was killed while covering a raid by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
According to the BBC report, the network and witnesses stated that the Palestinian-American reporter was shot by Israeli forces. Initially, Israel claimed she had been shot by Palestinians but, several months later, it was acknowledged that there was a “high probability” that one of its soldiers was responsible for her death.
Relations between Israel and the Qatari TV broadcaster have always been tense, but they worsened following the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Foreign journalists have been banned from entering the strip, and Al Jazeera staff based in the area have been some of the only reporters able to cover the war on the ground.
Israel has repeatedly branded the network a terrorist mouthpiece, an accusation that has been denied by Al Jazeera. As per BBC, Israel is yet to comment on Sunday's operation.