Israel raids and shuts down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah in the West Bank

The Qatar-funded broadcaster, Al Jazeera, is being targeted by Israel as it covers the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday morning, Israeli military stormed the network’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and ordered the bureau to close.

A live feed of Israeli military ordering the office to close for forty-five days was shown on Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel. It happens in response to an unusual order that was given in May, during which Israeli police raided Al Jazeera’s broadcast location in East Jerusalem, confiscating equipment, obstructing the channel’s ability to transmit in Israel, and banning 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 down, 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.