"Take All Cameras And Leave": Israel Raids Al Jazeera's West Bank Office

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera today said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and issued a 45-day closure order.

"Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers entered the building and handed the closure order to the network's West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari early on Sunday. They did not provide a reason for the decision," Al Jazeera reported.

"There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days," an Israeli soldier told journalist Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live.

"I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," the soldier said in Arabic.

The raid comes months after Israel banned Al Jazeera from operating inside the country in May, saying it threatened national security.

In May, Israeli authorities also raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office.

Al Jazeera had condemned the ban, calling it a "criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information".

"Israel's ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law," the network said in a statement.

Israel Kills Al Jazeera Journalist

Israel last month said it had killed Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul in an airstrike in Gaza, saying he was a Hamas operative who had taken part in the October 7 attack on Israel.

The Israeli military said Al-Ghoul was a member of the elite Nukhba unit who took part in the October 7 attack and instructed Hamas operatives on how to record operations. It also said he was involved in recording and publicizing attacks on Israeli troops.

"His activities in the field were a vital part of Hamas' military activity," the Israeli military said in a statement on August 1.

Al Jazeera, however, had dismissed what it said were "baseless allegations" which it said were an attempt to justify the deliberate killing of its journalists.

"The network condemns the accusations against its correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul, without providing any proof, documentation or video," it said in a statement, adding that it reserved the right to take legal action against those responsible.

The Qatari broadcaster said that Al-Ghoul and cameraman Ramy El Rify were killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza City while on an assignment to film near the house of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas chief killed in Iran.