Pictures of slain al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh hang on the facade of the building housing the television station's office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Media conglomerate Al Jazeera said that Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order.
Israel's government last week announced it was revoking the press credentials of Al Jazeera journalists in the country, four months after banning the channel from operating inside Israel.
"There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days," an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari, the network reported, citing the conversation which was broadcast live.
"I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," the soldier said, according to the footage, which showed heavily armed and masked troops entering the office in Ramallah.
The broadcaster said the soldiers did not provide a reason for the closure order.
Omari said the closure order accused the network of "incitement to and support of terrorism", according to Al Jazeera.
"Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth," the bureau chief said.
Israel's army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The media office of the government in Gaza condemned Sunday's raid, saying in a statement it was a "resounding scandal and a blatant violation of press freedom".
Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim said the network's West Bank office closure "comes as no surprise" after the earlier ban on reporting from inside Israel.
"We've heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau," she said on the network.
"But we (had) not been expecting it to happen today."
Another Al Jazeera journalist said the staff were prevented from reporting on the raid and their cameras were confiscated.
In May, the network condemned as "criminal" the ban on it operating over its coverage of the Gaza war.
"We condemn and denounce this criminal act by Israel that violates the human right to access information," the channel said in a statement.
