Israeli soldiers raid Al Jazeera office in the West Bank

According to Al Jazeera, Israeli soldiers raided the network's office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah with an order to shut it down. The Qatar-based television channel announced that heavily armed soldiers surrounded the building, blew open the iron door with explosives, and entered the office.

It was reported that the Israeli soldiers seized all equipment and documents, loaded them onto trucks, and prevented employees from using their cars.

Footage broadcast live from Al Jazeera shows heavily armed Israeli soldiers raiding the office and delivering a military order to bureau chief Walid al-Omari to close the office for 45 days.

Bureau chief al-Omari stated that the soldiers tore up and destroyed a photograph of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israel, located in front of the Ramallah office.

Al Jazeera Network, which also closed its office in Jerusalem 4 months ago, condemned the decision and announced that they would continue to practice journalism with the following statement:

"These repressive measures by Israel aim to prevent the world from seeing the reality of the situation in the occupied territories and the war in Gaza, and we strongly condemn this criminal act.

The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is responsible for the safety of journalists. We will pursue legal steps to protect the rights of both our television network and our employees.

By suppressing free media, Israel aims to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Despite these measures by Israel intended to silence us, we will continue to report the truth in a professional and objective manner.

We also reject the baseless allegations put forward by the authorities of the occupying state of Israel to justify this illegal raid."

News Source: 12punto