Israeli troops invaded Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah at 3 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22, and handed a notice to bureau chief Walid al-Omari ordering the news agency to shut down. All the staff were ordered to leave. “There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told al-Omari, in footage from the event, reported AP. “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.” Ultimately, however, the cameras were left behind.
Al-Omari said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as area witnesses saw and heard tear gas and gunshots. Speaking later to AP, al-Omari said that the Israeli military cited laws dating back to the British Mandate of Palestine to support its closure order. Israeli Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi, in a post on X, called Qatar-based Al Jazeera “the mouthpiece of Hamas and Hezbollah,” and concluded his post “We will continue to fight the enemy’s channels and ensure the safety of our heroic fighters,” above a video clip of the closure order being read to the news agencies. Kahri’s bio on his X channel identifies him as a “resident of the Gaza Envelope.”
