Israeli forces raid and shut down Al Jazeera bureau in occupied West Bank

Israeli soldiers have raided the Al Jazeera office in the occupied West Bank and ordered the bureau to shut down amid a widening campaign targeting the Doha-based broadcaster.

Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops storming its bureau in Ramallah on Sunday and ordering the office to be shut for 45 days. This follows an order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s premises in occupied East Jerusalem, seizing equipment, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The network later aired footage of Israeli troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah. 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.”