explainer

The network continued to report on the plight of Palestinians, despite the intimidation.

Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned The Palestinian Authority imposed a ban on its operations in the occupied West Bank this week, describing it as a measure “in line with Israeli occupation practices.”

Since its launch in 1996, Al Jazeera’s correspondents have covered the Middle East, from… Arab Spring to Israeli settler violence In the West Bank and Brutal war on Gazaeven as other news organizations pulled their journalists.

From the beginning, Al Jazeera faced attempts to silence its reporting through arrests, imprisonment, and attacks on its journalists. Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, the channel has faced more attempts to stifle its reporting on Palestine.

Al Jazeera’s determination to provide live, round-the-clock reporting on atrocities in Gaza and deadly raids in the occupied West Bank has come at a heavy cost, with at least six Al Jazeera journalists killed in the Palestinian territories since 2022.

The Palestinian Authority’s decision to ban Al Jazeera reflects Israel’s announcement last year of banning the channel in Israel and then closing its office in Ramallah.

Below is a breakdown of how Al Jazeera was targeted by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel:

When did Al Jazeera start reporting from the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

Al Jazeera has been reporting in Palestine since 2000, marking Al Jazeera Arabic’s first attempt to launch a foreign bureau.

Al Jazeera has two bureaus in Ramallah and occupied East Jerusalem in the West Bank, although they have now been discontinued by the Israeli government or the Palestinian Authority.

In 2021, Israeli forces bombed the Gaza office.

How many times did the Palestinian Authority close Al Jazeera?

The Palestinian Authority controls parts of the occupied West Bank, and has suspended Al Jazeera’s operations there three times:

• In March 2001, the Palestinian Authority, then led by President Yasser Arafat, stormed the Al Jazeera offices in Ramallah and prevented employees from accessing the building. No official reasons were given. But the head of the office, Walid Al-Omari, said at the time that a security official contacted the office and accused the network of broadcasting “insulting” footage of Arafat, demanding that it be removed.
• On July 15, 2009, Palestinian Authority security officials stormed Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah and prevented its 35 employees from broadcasting. The officials claimed that the network broadcast “false information” because the late Palestinian politician Farouk Qaddoumi, in an interview, accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of involvement in an Israeli plot to kill Arafat. The office was allowed to reopen four days later after protests from journalists’ rights groups.

• In December 2024, Fatah, the Palestinian party that dominates the Palestinian Authority, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the Strip. Jenin governoratesQalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of the confrontations that broke out between Palestinian security forces and armed Palestinian factions. Since mid-December, Palestinian Authority security forces have cracked down on armed groups in what analysts say is an attempt to suppress armed groups. The Palestinian Authority is beloved by the Israelis and the United States. The campaign led to the killing of many civilians, in addition to journalist Shatha Sabbagh (22 years old) from the West Bank.
• On January 2, 2025, the Palestinian Authority suspended all Al Jazeera broadcasts from the West Bank and imposed restrictions on anyone working for the network.

How many times has Israel closed Al Jazeera?

The Israeli authorities have repeatedly tried to silence Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the network’s coverage of “incitement to violence.” The network denies these allegations, describing them as “arbitrary and hostile.”

• In July 2017, Netanyahu threatened to close Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office in a Facebook post because the network covered the dispute between Palestinians and Israeli authorities over Al-Aqsa Mosque.
• In May 2021, Israel bombed Al Jazeera’s office in Gaza. Israeli forces gave Al Jazeera and other media organizations located in the same building only one hour to evacuate the tower.
• In May 2024, the Al Jazeera office was opened in occupied East Jerusalem Raid and shut down After the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the government to suspend the operations of foreign media outlets that pose a “threat,” for 45 days at a time. The ban, including the ban on Al Jazeera’s website in Israel, has been renewed several times and remains in place. Al Jazeera now reports from Amman, Jordan.
• In September 2024, heavily armed and masked Israeli security forces are present I raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah at 3 a.m. closed its operations while the office was broadcasting live. Israeli officials claimed the network supported “terrorism” and ordered a shutdown of operations for 45 days. Al Jazeera employees were forced to stand in the street and were threatened with a laser weapon during the raid.

How many Al Jazeera journalists were killed or injured in the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

At least six Al Jazeera journalists were killed by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza while carrying out their duty. In most cases, journalists wore clearly marked press jackets or were in clearly marked cars.

• Sherine Abu Okla: Veteran journalist Abu Oqla was killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Although she was wearing a helmet and jacket clearly marked “Press,” an Israeli sniper’s bullet entered just below her helmet. Israeli forces initially tried to blame the “exchange of fire” from Palestinian fighters, but were forced to back down when video evidence proved that there were no Palestinian fighters nearby. No action was taken against the sniper. Israeli forces attacked her funeral procession attended by thousands of Palestinians – at one point causing her coffin to slide and nearly hit the ground.
• Samir Abu DaqaOn December 15, 2023, an Israeli air attack injured Al Jazeera photographer Abu Daqqa in Khan Yunis, Gaza. Israeli officials prevented emergency vehicles from reaching him despite international appeals while he bled for several hours.
• Poor DahdouhAl Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, whose wife, son, daughter, and grandson were killed in the Israeli bombing of Gaza, was filming with Abu Daqqa and was wounded in the same attack. On January 7, 2024, Hamza Dahdouh, Dahdouh’s son, who also worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed. killing In an attack alongside his colleague Mustafa Soraya.
• Ismail Abu OmarOn February 13, 2024, an Israeli drone bombed Abu Omar, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, and his cameraman, Ahmed Matar, in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. The two men were seriously injured.
• Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi: Al-Jazeera Al-Arabiya correspondent Al-Ghoul was corresponding with Al-Rifi photographer on July 31, 2024, when an Israeli airstrike hit their car in the beach area for refugees in Gaza City. Al-Ghoul was arrested and severely beaten by Israeli forces in March 2024 while covering raids on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
• Hossam Shabat: Shabat was injured on November 20, 2024, during a second Israeli raid on a house that had just been bombed, and he was preparing a report on it.
• Ahmed al-LouhIsrael killed Al-Jazeera Al-Arabiya channel photojournalist Al-Louh, on December 15, 2024, while he was covering the Palestinian Civil Defense’s attempts to rescue an injured family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Five others were killed.