Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah located in the occupied West Bank, early on Sunday, September, 22, as confirmed by the news outlet.
According to the reports, the Israeli forces raided the premises and issued a closure order for the office for 45 days, which was broadcast live by the bureau chief Walid Al Omari.
The Israeli forces did not provide a specific reason for the raid, which was broadcast to viewers. Bureau chief Walid Al Omari reported the news in real-time, reading the closure order before being forced out of the office.
Reports indicated that during the raid, the forces armed with heavy weapons also tore down a poster of Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al Jazeera journalist killed by the Israeli army while covering an Israeli operation in the West Bank in 2022.
“Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth,” Mr Al Omari said in a statement shared by Al Jazeera.
As of now, Israeli authorities have not issued any official statement regarding the latest raid.
The incident is part of a broader pattern of Israeli aggression against the Qatar-based Al Jazeera. The far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu has previously labelled the network a “threat” to national security, resulting in earlier raids on its offices in Nazareth and East Jerusalem
