Israeli forces have raided Al Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah, located in the occupied West Bank, ordering the news broadcaster to shut down for an initial 45-day period.

The raid occurred early Sunday, during a live broadcast, when armed and masked Israeli soldiers entered the building. Viewers witnessed the moment as the troops handed over the closure order to Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau chief, who read it out live on air.

This follows previous raids in May on Al Jazeera’s offices in Nazareth and occupied East Jerusalem, with Israeli authorities citing the network as a national security threat.

Al Jazeera’s West Bank office is the latest target in a series of escalating tensions between the network and the Israeli government. Speaking about the raid, al-Omari condemned the move, saying, “Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing it.”

The Israeli forces confiscated equipment, including the last remaining microphone and camera outside the building, and forced al-Omari to leave the premises, according to Al Jazeera journalist Mohammad Alsaafin. He also noted that the soldiers tore down a poster of Shireen Abu Aqla, a Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera who was killed during an Israeli raid in the West Bank last year. While Israel initially blamed Palestinian gunfire, it later admitted there was a “high probability” that one of its soldiers had killed her.

Tensions between Al Jazeera, owned by Qatar, and the Israeli government have worsened since the war in Gaza erupted. Al Jazeera reporters, some of the few able to cover the war on the ground, have become a primary source of information for many. Israel has repeatedly accused the network of being a propaganda tool for terrorists, a charge the network denies.

In April, the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the government to temporarily shut down foreign broadcasters deemed threats to national security during wartime. These closures can be enforced for 45 days and renewed, as seen in Sunday’s raid. Israel has yet to comment on this latest operation.