Watch: Israeli troops raid Al Jazeera TV bureau in West Bank

Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera’s Ramallah TV bureau in the West Bank on Sunday morning, with the broadcaster capturing the moment live.

The Qatar-based channel aired live footage of the Israeli troops storming the channel’s office, handing over a military closure order to one of the Al Jazeera TV staff, before the broadcast was disrupted.

The military order demanded the broadcaster close for 45 days, a move decried by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate as “arbitrary”.

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

Video showed what appeared to be Israel troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

Mr Al-Omari later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.

It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera’s broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown on Sunday by Israeli forces. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said: “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.”

Hezbollah fires missiles at military base

Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early on Sunday, following an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group’s senior leaders, as well as women and children.

Hezbollah said it had launched “dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles” - a new type of weapon the group had not used before - at the Ramat David airbase, southeast of Haifa, “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs”.

Over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon overnight, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa.

Israeli first responders said the strikes wounded at least three people near Haifa, damaged buildings and set cars on fire.