Israeli soldiers on Sunday raided Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera's office in the West Bank and ordered it to close for 45 days.

Armed and masked Israeli soldiers entered the building during a live broadcast and ordered the staff to take their cameras and leave the office soon. They also handed over a closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari who read it out live on air, Al Jazeera reported.

"There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days. I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," an Israeli soldier told Walid al-Omari, in the live footage.

Sunday's raid came after Israel raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office in May following the government's decision to shut down the network's local operations, alleging that it threatened national security.

The Qatar-based channel aired the live footage of the Israeli troops storming its office and handing over the closure order before the broadcast was disrupted. According to al-Omari, Israeli soldiers began to confiscate documents and equipment in the office while tear gas and gunshots were seen and heard on the premises.

In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate condemned the Israeli raid on Al Jazeera's West Bank office, saying "this arbitrary military decision is considered a new violation against journalistic and media works, which has been exposing the occupation's crimes against the Palestinian people."

An Al Jazeera employee said the raid and closure order did not come as a surprise but said it had not expected that the network would be shut down sooner.

"We’ve heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau. We’ve heard the government discussing this, asking the military ruler in the occupied West Bank to close down and shut down the channel. But we [had] not been expecting it to happen today," Nida Ibrahim said.

In his remarks, Omari said, "Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth."

Relations between Al Jazeera and the Israeli government have been long tense but worsened following its coverage in the war in Gaza since October 7 last year. Israel has repeatedly accused the Qatari-owned channel a terrorist mouthpiece, a claim that Al Jazeera has denied.

Earlier in April, the Israeli Parliament passed a law giving power to the government to temporarily shut foreign broadcasters that are considered a threat to national security during the Gaza war.

Source: ANI