Israeli forces storm Al Jazeera office in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have raided the offices of the news channel Al Jazeera in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and ordered the channel to be closed for an initial period of 45 days.

Armed and masked Israeli soldiers entered the building early Sunday during a live broadcast.

Viewers watched as troops handed the closure order to Walid al-Omari, the station's West Bank bureau chief, who read it live on air.

Israel raided Al Jazeera's offices in Nazareth and occupied East Jerusalem in May after labeling the Qatar-based broadcaster a national security threat.

“Targeting journalists in this way is always aimed at erasing the truth and preventing people from knowing the truth,” Omari said in comments reported by his employer.

The soldiers confiscated the last microphone and camera on the street and forced Omari to leave the office, Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Alsaafin said.

In a social media post about the raid, Alsaafin said troops also tore down a poster of Shireen Abu Aqla, an Al Jazeera reporter who was killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank.

The broadcaster and witnesses said at the time that the Palestinian-American reporter had been shot by Israeli forces. Israel initially claimed she had been shot by a Palestinian, but months later concluded that there is a “high probability” that one of his soldiers had killed her.

Relations between the Qatari broadcaster and the Israeli government have long been strained, but have deteriorated dramatically since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.

Since foreign journalists are banned from entering the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera employees stationed in the region are among the few reporters who have been able to report on the war on the ground.

Israel has repeatedly branded the network a mouthpiece for terrorists, an accusation Al Jazeera has rejected.

In AprilThe Israeli parliament passed a law giving the government the authority to temporarily close foreign broadcasters that were deemed a threat to national security during the war.

A ban is valid for a period of 45 days, as in the case of the raid on Sunday, and can be extended.

At the beginning of May, Al Jazeera’s offices in Nazareth And occupied East Jerusalem were the subject of separate raids.

There has been no comment from Israel so far on Sunday's operation.