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11-05-2024
JERUSALEM: Israel says it has raided a studio being used by Al Jazeera in Nazareth, in the latest clash between the country and broadcaster.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi linked the media company to Hamas and said equipment was being confiscated in the northern Israeli city on Thursday morning.
Al Jazeera has previously called claims it was a threat to Israeli security a “dangerous and ridiculous lie”.
The incident comes after Israeli police targeted one of the broadcaster’s offices in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.
Relations between the broadcaster and the Israeli government have long been tense but worsened dramatically following the outbreak of war in Gaza.
With foreign journalists banned from entering the strip, Al Jazeera staff based in the area have been some of the only reporters able to cover the war on the ground.
In April, the Israeli parliament approved a law giving the government the power to ban broadcasts of TV channels, including Al Jazeera.
On Sunday, Israel’s government moved to shut down the operations of the channel in the country, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his cabinet had agreed to the closure while the war in Gaza is ongoing.
On Thursday, Karhi posted a picture on X, appearing to show Israeli police outside a building, understood to house rented studios.
He said he had “ordered a raid” on “the studio in Nazareth where Al Jazeera reporters were broadcasting”.
“Currently, inspectors from the Ministry of Communications and Northern District Police Tactical Division are confiscating their equipment”, Karhi added.
“Israel won’t let Hamas broadcast from here.”
The media has approached Al Jazeera for comment.
The network has previously denied any link to Hamas and said on Sunday that it “vehemently rejects the allegations presented by Israeli authorities suggesting professional media standards have been violated”.
Police also raided the broadcaster’s office at the Ambassador hotel in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.
In a statement released the same day, Al Jazeera said it strongly condemned and denounced “this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information”.
The broadcaster also accused Israel of “ongoing suppression” of free press, which “stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law” – as well as directly targeting and killing journalists.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 252 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 34,780 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel has faced widespread condemnation for the number of journalists killed since the war began, but the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) says it only targets militants.
Earlier on Thursday, heavy shelling was being reported in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, despite US President Joe Biden previously warning Israel against a major offensive there.
President Joe Biden has warned Israel that the US will stop supplying some weapons if it launches a major ground operation in the Gaza city of Rafah.
“If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah,” he said during an interview. (Al Jazeera)
