The raid and forced closure of Al Jazeera's Ramallah office by Israeli soldiers constitute a violation of press freedom and the human rights of journalists, said Walid al-Omari, the network's West Bank bureau chief.
In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Monday, the bureau chief recounted how heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the building housing Al Jazeera's bureau and handed him a 45-day closure order early on Sunday.
He recalled that approximately 17 armed and masked soldiers broke into the office after midnight, forcing the staff out of the premises.
"I was there in the office when they broke into our office after 03:00, after midnight. A huge number of soldiers. One of my colleagues told me that he counted more than seventeen soldiers. Some of them were masked, hiding their faces. I don't know why. They have their weapons and you have them inside your office and they have orders, and telling you that you have to leave because they want to close the office," al-Omari recounted.
During the raid, which the bureau chief described as aggressive and destructive, staff were forcibly removed and kept at a distance while soldiers sealed the office with iron sheets and confiscated essential equipment.
"We found that they closed the main door of the office with rusty iron blades, and fixed and soldered it with welding. It's a very bad and ugly picture to see your office closed in this way. And they have their papers in this iron plate. One of them is the order in Hebrew and the other three were about what they confiscated from the office. It was laptops, cameras and other documents," he said.
Al-Omari readily denounced the Israeli actions in no uncertain terms.
"What's happened yesterday, really, they violated the rights of the freedom of press, freedom of expression, freedom of life and the human rights for us and for the journalists everywhere, especially the Palestinians," he said.
The bureau chief also emphasized that Israel's brazen actions taken against Palestinian members of the press have exploded since the outbreak of the war.
"Since the first day of this war on the seventh of October until now, it's 353 days. And this war is continuous. 174 Palestinian journalists, male and female, were killed by the Israeli fire in Gaza. Before this war, before the seventh of October, 104 Palestinian journalists were killed by the Israelis since the first day of the occupation in June 1967," said Al-Omari, referring to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including the East Jerusalem during the Third Middle East War, or the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors on June 5-10, 1967.
Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the latest round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict, broadcasting bloody scenes of air attacks and overcrowded hospitals, and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel has accused Al Jazeera of bias against it and collaboration with Hamas. The Qatar-based network has repeatedly rejected the accusations.
Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief condemns Israeli raid as violation of press freedom
Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief condemns Israeli raid as violation of press freedom
Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief condemns Israeli raid as violation of press freedom
