‘Take all the cameras and leave’: Israel raids Al Jazeera office in West Bank, shuts it down

The Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate condemned the Israeli move, calling it a new violation against journalistic and media works.

File photo of Al Jazeera broadcast engineer Mohammad Salameh working at the Master Control Room unit inside the network's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Photo: AP)

Israel Army raided the offices of Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday, ordering the bureau to shut down, months after it had banned the news network from operating inside Israel.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, heavily armed and masked Israeli troops entered the building and handed the closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari early on Sunday. However, they did not provide a reason for the decision.

The Qatar-based channel aired live footage of the Israeli troops storming the channel’s office and handing over a military closure order to one of the Al Jazeera TV staff before the broadcast was disrupted, news agency Reuters reported.

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“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” a soldier can be heard saying as the network broadcast the conversation live on television. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment,” the soldier added.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate condemned the Israeli move, saying “this arbitrary military decision is considered a new violation against journalistic and media works, which has been exposing the occupation’s crimes against the Palestinian people”.

The Gaza Government Media Office also called the Israeli move on Sunday a “deafening scandal”. “We call on all media organisation 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.

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In the month of May, Israeli authorities had raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office after the government decided to shut down the Al Jazeera TV station’s local operations, stating it threatened national security.

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Media rights groups have slammed the Israeli government for its restrictions and attacks on journalists, particularly Palestinian reporters on the ground in Gaza amid the ongoing war, an Al Jazeera report stated.

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