Al Jazeera in Palestine: A Timeline of Reporting No Matter What | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

EXPLANATION

The network continued to report on Palestinian suffering, despite the intimidation.

Al Jazeera Media Network is strong condemned The Palestinian Authority (PA) banned its operations in the occupied West Bank this week, calling it an action “in line with Israeli occupation practices.”

Since its launch in 1996, Al Jazeera’s reporters have covered the Middle East, from arab spring to Israeli settler violence on the West Bank and the brutal war in Gazaeven when other news outlets pulled their reporters.

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

Al Jazeera’s determination to provide round-the-clock, first-hand coverage of the horrors in Gaza and deadly attacks in the occupied West Bank has come at a high cost, with at least six Al Jazeera journalists killed in the Palestinian territory since 2022.

The PA’s decision to ban Al Jazeera echoes Israel’s announcement last year that the channel would be banned in Israel, followed by the closing of its Ramallah office.

Here’s an overview of how Al Jazeera has been targeted by the PA and Israel:

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

Al Jazeera has been reporting on Palestine since 2000, which is Al Jazeera Arabic’s first attempt to launch a foreign editorial office.

Al Jazeera offices exist in Ramallah and occupied East Jerusalem in the West Bank, although both have been suspended by the Israeli government, or PA.

In 2021, Israeli forces bombed the office in Gaza.

How many times has the PA shut down Al Jazeera?

The PA controls parts of the occupied West Bank and has suspended Al Jazeera there three times:

• In March 2001, the PA, then led by President Yasser Arafat, stormed Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah and prevented staff from entering the building. No official reasons were given. However, bureau chief Walid Al-Omari said at the time that a security official called the bureau and accused the network of airing footage “offensive” to Arafat, demanding that it be removed.
• On July 15, 2009, PA security officers raided Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah and banned 35 employees from broadcasting. Officials claimed the network broadcast “false information” because the late Palestinian politician Farouk Kaddoumi accused PA President Mahmoud Abbas in an interview of involvement in an Israeli plot to kill Arafat. The office was allowed to reopen four days later after an outcry from journalists’ rights groups.

• In December 2024, Fatah, the Palestinian party that dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from Jenin governorateQalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing coverage of clashes between Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups. Since mid-December, PA security forces have cracked down on armed groups in what analysts say is an attempt endear PA to the Israelis and the United States. The crackdown led to the killing of several civilians, as well as West Bank journalist Shath Sabbagh, 22.
• On January 2, 2025, the PA suspended all Al Jazeera broadcasts from the West Bank and placed restrictions on anyone working for the network.

How many times has Israel shut down Al Jazeera?

Israeli authorities have repeatedly tried to silence Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the network’s coverage of “inciting violence.” The network refutes these claims as “arbitrary and hostile”.

• In July 2017, Netanyahu threatened to close Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office in a Facebook post because the network was covering the conflict between Palestinians and Israeli authorities over the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
• In May 2021, Israel bombed the Al Jazeera office in Gaza. Israeli forces gave Al Jazeera and other media organizations in the same building just one hour to evacuate the tower.
• In May 2024, Al Jazeera’s editorial office in East Jerusalem was occupied raided and closed after the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the government to suspend the work of foreign media that represent a “threat” for 45 days. The ban, including the ban on Al Jazeera’s website in Israel, has been renewed several times and remains in effect. Al Jazeera is now reporting from Amman, Jordan.
• In September 2024, heavily armed and masked Israeli security forces raided Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau shut down its operations at 3am as the bureau was broadcasting live. Israeli officials claimed the network supported “terrorism” and ordered operations shut down for 45 days. Al Jazeera staff were forced to stand in the street and threatened with laser weapons during the raid.

How many Al Jazeera journalists have been killed or injured in the West Bank and Gaza?

At least six Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza while on duty. In most cases, journalists wore marked press vests or were in clearly marked cars.

• Shireen Abu Akleh: Veteran journalist Abu Akleh was shot and killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022, while reporting on the Israeli attack on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Despite the fact that she was wearing a helmet and a vest clearly marked “Press”, a bullet from an Israeli sniper pierced right under her helmet. Israeli forces initially tried to blame “crossfire” on Palestinian fighters, but were forced to back down when abundant video evidence showed that there were no Palestinian fighters nearby. No action was taken against the snipers. Israeli forces attacked her funeral procession attended by thousands of Palestinians paying their respects – at one point causing her coffin to slide and almost hit the ground.
• Samer Abudaq: On December 15, 2023, an Israeli airstrike injured Al Jazeera’s Abudaq cameraman in Khan Younis, Gaza. Israeli officials prevented ambulances from reaching him despite international requests as he bled for several hours.
• Wael Dahdouh: Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent chief, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, was filming with Abudaq and was injured in the same attack. On January 7, 2024, Dahdouh’s son Hamza Dahdouh, who also worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed in the attack together with his colleague Mustafa Thuraj.
• Ismail Abu Omer: On February 13, 2024, an Israeli drone hit Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Abu Omar and his cameraman Ahmad Matar in Rafah, southern Gaza. Two men were seriously injured.
• Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi: Al Jazeera’s Arab correspondent al-Ghoul was reporting with cameraman al-Rifi on July 31, 2024, when an Israeli airstrike hit their car in the Shati refugee area of ​​Gaza City. Al-Ghoul was previously detained and severely beaten by Israeli forces in March 2024 while reporting on the attacks on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
• Hossam Shabat: Shabat was injured on November 20, 2024, during a second Israeli attack on the house he was reporting on that had just been hit.
• Ahmed al-Louh: Arab photojournalist Al Jazeera al-Louha was killed by Israel on December 15, 2024 while covering attempts by the Palestinian Civil Defense to rescue an injured family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Five more were killed.