Israeli forces shut down Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau

None of the network’s employees were harmed in the raid, but some journalists were threatened with laser-pointed weapons, Al Jazeera said — preventing them from covering the operation. On Sunday, it said the bureau was sealed off with two large metal plates welded over the entrance, making it inaccessible.

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi confirmed that security forces raided the news organization’s main West Bank offices to “shut down the station” and enforce a closure order. In a statement on X, he accused the Qatari government-backed network of being a “mouthpiece” for Israel’s enemies and said Israel was acting to protect the safety of its soldiers.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international broadcasters providing largely uninterrupted coverage of Israel’s war inside Gaza. International journalists have been unable to enter the Strip outside of the occasional embed with Israeli forces.

In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Press Association said it was “deeply troubled” by the move and urged Israeli authorities to reconsider. “Restricting foreign reporters and closing news channels signals a shift away from democratic values,” the association’s board said.

A similar order was issued when Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem operations in May and banned its reporters from operating inside the country. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the closure followed a unanimous vote by Israel’s war cabinet. He accused the network’s correspondents of having “harmed the security of Israel” and said “the time has come to eject Hamas’s mouthpiece from our country.”

Al Jazeera has previously rejected accusations of any association with militant groups, describing the move to shut down its operations as “deceptive and slanderous.” In a statement in May, the Al Jazeera Media Network said: “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.”

Dozens of Palestinian journalists have been killed during the conflict, according to press advocacy groups. Several Al Jazeera journalists have also been killed in Gaza.