Israeli occupation forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in the o cupped West Bank city of Ramallah and ordered it to shut down for 45 days.
Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the news network’s office and handed the closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, early today.
BREAKING:
The Israeli military is raiding downtown Ramallah, broke into Al-Jazeera offices and ordered its closure for 45 days by military order.
This is around 3:20 a.m. local. pic.twitter.com/0xbn2HrwFK
— Mariam Barghouti مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) September 22, 2024
Al-Omari said the Israeli military’s closure order accused the network of “incitement to and support of terrorism”.
They also ordered staff to take their personal possessions from the building, with Al Jazeera’a Jivara
Budeiri saying they confiscated their cameras and that she feared the occupation army might try to destroy the network’s archives, which are stored in the office.
This comes after Israeli authorities banned the channel from broadcasting from within Israel on 5 May.
A decision which has been renewed numerous times since then. This comes as Israel carried out widespread raids across the occupied West Bank in its biggest military offensive in the occupied territory in 20 years.
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