The Israeli occupation forces stormed Al Jazeera satellite channel’s bureau in Ramallah City in the occupied West Bank and ordered its administration to shut down operations, amid a growing Israeli crackdown on media freedom.
Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the building housing Al Jazeera’s bureau and handed a 45-day closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, early on Sunday, according to the Doha-based news network.
Omari said the Israeli military’s closure order accused the network of “incitement to and support of terrorism.”
Al Jazeera’s Jivara al-Budeiri said Israeli forces used tear gas in the vicinity of Al Jazeera’s bureau and al-Manara Square in the heart of Ramallah City. She added that Israeli soldiers confiscated their cameras.
Israeli military vehicles left Ramallah after the raid.
Sunday’s Israeli raid in Ramallah, which is under full Palestinian security and civil control, comes just months after the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel last May in the wake of its devastating war on Gaza.
After the raid, Omari raised concerns about what Israeli forces might do to the office.
“Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth,” he said
