The Israeli occupation authorities continue to target journalists and media organizations to prevent them from conveying the truth that exposes its violations against innocent civilians of the Palestinian people.
In this context, Israeli forces raided the Al Jazeera office in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early Sunday and closed it.
The occupation forces forced the channel’s staff to leave the office after the raid, issued a decision to prevent the channel from operating for 45 days, and seized documents and equipment from the channel’s office.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate condemned the raid on Al Jazeera’s office and its closure for 45 days, considering it “a new aggressive military decision against journalism and media.”
The Syndicate called on all entities and institutions concerned with journalists’ rights and providing a safe working environment for them to quickly act to condemn this decision and stop its implementation.
Al Jazeera’s office director in Palestine, Walid Al-Omari, said, “Large Israeli forces raided the Al Jazeera office at dawn, broke the outer door, and ordered us to close it for 45 days and took us out of the office.”
Al-Omari added in media statements, “They prevented us from approaching the office and informed us of the seizure of all equipment inside.”
He confirmed that the soldiers tore up photos of Al Jazeera correspondent Sheren Abu Aqila, who was shot by the Israeli occupation army in Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank on May 11, 2022.
The closure decision was considered an assault on Al Jazeera and journalism, and a continuation of the ban on Al Jazeera’s work in Jerusalem and inside the occupied territories in 1948 on May 5 last year.
Footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed an Israeli occupation army unit raiding the channel’s office and handing a military order to close the office for 45 days to the office director Walid Al-Omari.
Last July 21, the Israeli occupation government approved the extension of the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in occupied Jerusalem and the ban on its work inside the occupied territories for another 45 days for the third time.
On May 5 last year, the occupation government approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi to close Al Jazeera’s offices inside the occupied territories for 45 days, with the decision coming into immediate effect by the signing of the Minister of Communications, and later extended twice.
However, the office staff continued to work from Ramallah, prompting the Israeli press office (under Netanyahu’s office) to revoke the accreditation of its correspondents on September 12, according to a statement from the press office indicating that the decision “will remain in effect as long as the Knesset legislation and the temporary order are in effect.”
In April last year, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) approved a law allowing the Prime Minister and the Communications Minister to ban foreign media that “harms Israel’s security,” and the law was dubbed in the media as the “Al Jazeera Law” because it was primarily designed to prevent the Qatari channel from broadcasting, but it includes all foreign media.
Al Jazeera has dedicated extensive coverage to the Israeli genocide war on the Gaza Strip, documenting multiple times the targeting of marches by the occupation seeking aid drops by air on the sector, and the centers sheltering displaced persons fleeing from Israeli army operations.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been carrying out a genocide war on the Gaza Strip, leading to a catastrophic deterioration in humanitarian and health conditions due to continuous bombardment and the tightened siege preventing the arrival of essential supplies of food, water, medicine, and electricity.
