The Al Jazaera newsroom in Ramallah, Palestine, was raided by Israeli soldiers at three in the morning, who handed the editor-in-chief a notice that it had to be closed, according to the television station itself.
Journalists were expelled from that space and prevented from entering. The moment was filmed and is being broadcast by the Qatar-based channel.
Al Jazaera, which has been accused by Israel of supporting terrorism, stresses that the order was signed by the Israeli military authorities, despite the fact that the office is located in an area under Palestinian control. The closure order has a validity period of 45 days.
In May, the station’s Israel newsroom was shut down for 45 days, an order that has since been renewed – but Al Jazaerra argues that, unlike in this case, Israeli forces have no power in Ramallah.
The Israeli communications minister claims that the station is the voice of Hamas and Hezbollah, according to Reuters.
But there were also new developments in the attacks that Israel is carrying out in Palestine. In Gaza, the Palestinian civil defense says that there were at least seven deaths caused by an Israeli bombing of a school (Kafr Qasem) that was being used as a shelter for refugees. Israel again claimed that it was aimed at Hamas fighters.
Tensions rise with Lebanon
This decision against Al Jazaera came after a week of heightened tension, which flared up again in the early hours of Sunday, between Israel and Lebanon, from where Hezbollah has been operating.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement, quoted by The Guardian, in which he said he had inflicted a “series of blows” over the course of this week that Hezbollah “could not have imagined”. “If Hezbollah has not got the message, I promise you that it will eventually get it”. It was this week that the explosions of communications equipment (pagers and walkie-talkies) took place and which caused 37 deaths and 3200 injuries.
Northern Israel and southern Lebanon are now the territories most targeted by attacks in both directions – Hezbollah says it has sent missiles and attacked industrial complexes, according to the Guardian, Israel says it has launched air strikes against launchers of Hezbollah, which it classifies as a terrorist group and accuses of hiding in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the United Nations coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, argued that the region is “on the brink of imminent catastrophe”, and wanted to make her position clear on the social network X: “There is no military solution that will make either side of the conflict safer”.
Source: expresso.pt
