Jerusalem:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet decided on Sunday to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel for as long as the war in Gaza continues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.

“The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on social media following the unanimous cabinet vote.

A government statement said Israel’s communications minister signed orders to “act immediately,” but at least one lawmaker who supported the closure said Al Jazeera could still try to block it in court.

The measure, the statement said, will include closing Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, confiscating broadcast equipment, cutting off the channel from cable and satellite companies and blocking its websites.

The network is funded by the Qatari government and has been fiercely critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the war. The Israeli statement did not mention Al Jazeera’s Gaza operations.

Israel’s parliament last month ratified a law allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security.

Al Jazeera made no immediate comment on Sunday, although it has previously rejected accusations that it was a threat to Israel’s security and said the shutdown was an effort to silence it.

The law allows Netanyahu and his security cabinet to shut the network’s offices in Israel for 45 days, a period that can be renewed, so it could stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza.

Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders, is trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could halt the Gaza war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet decided on Sunday to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel for as long as the war in Gaza continues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.

“The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on social media following the unanimous cabinet vote.

A government statement said Israel’s communications minister signed orders to “act immediately,” but at least one lawmaker who supported the closure said Al Jazeera could still try to block it in court.

The measure, the statement said, will include closing Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, confiscating broadcast equipment, cutting off the channel from cable and satellite companies and blocking its websites.

The network is funded by the Qatari government and has been fiercely critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the war. The Israeli statement did not mention Al Jazeera’s Gaza operations.

Israel’s parliament last month ratified a law allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security.

Al Jazeera made no immediate comment on Sunday, although it has previously rejected accusations that it was a threat to Israel’s security and said the shutdown was an effort to silence it.

The law allows Netanyahu and his security cabinet to shut the network’s offices in Israel for 45 days, a period that can be renewed, so it could stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza.

Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders, is trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could halt the Gaza war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

“Help us stay alive…” – a plaintive and desperate plea from a young girl and her brother from the Gaza Strip. The two are the children of senior Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh, and their heart-breaking plea was made just days before their mother and two siblings were killed in an Israeli strike.

“.. do you know what is happening in the Gaza Strip?” Kholoud, his daughter, asks in a 43-second video shared early Wednesday by the Qatari state-owned media network.

The camera then pans to her brother, Mahmoud. “… (from) the first day Gaza is living in continuous violence… a complete siege with (no) electricity, internet and water… and targeting of safe houses.”

“Whole neighbourhoods have been destroyed,” Kholoud continues the sad narrative as the video shows residential buildings reduced to rubble and entire streets covered in that debris.

“In Gaza there is no safe place…” she says.

“Help us to stay alive” was their outcry to the world from Gaza.

Mahmoud, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Wael Dahdouh son, joined by his sister Kholoud, sent a message to the world, days before Mahmoud, his mother, and younger sister Sham were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza pic.twitter.com/HWJ8SjIpvx

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 25, 2023

Days later her mother, 15-year-old brother, and seven-year-old sister were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which Israeli forces had called a “safe area”.

Mr Dahdouh was reporting live from that camp – to which his family and he had escaped after Israel’s harsh order two weeks ago, directing over a million civilians to flee north Gaza in 24 hours.

READ |Al Jazeera Journalist’s Family, In Gaza “Safe Area”, Die In Israeli Strike

Shortly after he went off air, an Al Jazeera anchor said tearfully, “A number of family members of our colleague, Wael Al Dahdouh were martyred, including his wife, son and daughter. He was with us a little while ago… was reporting bombing that targeted the area where his family members (were).”

The Qatari broadcaster later aired visuals of a grief-stricken Mr Dahdouh at the morgue in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Palestine’s Deir el-Balah, to see the bodies of his family members.

The family of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh has been killed in an Israeli attack at the Al Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, where they had forcibly evacuated to shelter from Israeli bombardments pic.twitter.com/ya64Lgunbp

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 25, 2023

“This is the fiercest and most violent war we have lived (through) in Gaza,” Mahmoud, his son, continues in his video to the sound of rockets exploding. Israel’s strikes have killed over 6,000 Palestinians so far, with more than 700 dying in overnight raids alone, Al Jazeera reported this morning.

READ |Why Israel Is Attacking South Gaza After Telling Civilians To Go There

The gut-wrenching video concludes with a montage of shuttered shops, desolate streets and rubble-strewn cities, as Kholoud asks, “Where are the human rights? Where are the international laws? Where are the countries of the world to see what is happening to us?”

Israel’s attacks come after Hamas gunmen on October 7 killed over 1,400 people, including civilians.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the strikes till Hamas – which it has likened to Islamic terrorist group ISIS – is completely destroyed.

READ |“All Hamas Members Are Dead Men Walking”: Israel’s Netanyahu

Tel Aviv has allowed small aid convoys to enter Gaza, a heavily blockaded strip of land home to over two million people, but the amount of food, water, medicines and other supplies is not enough.

READ | Israeli Tanks Enter North Gaza In “Targeted” Overnight Raid, Retreat Later

Gaza has been subject to a “complete siege” for days.

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Israel’s communications minister said on Sunday he was seeking a possible closure of Al Jazeera’s local bureau, and accused the Qatari news station of pro-Hamas incitement and of exposing Israeli soldiers to potential attack from Gaza.

The proposal to shut down Al Jazeera had been vetted by Israeli security officials and was being vetted by legal experts, Shloma Karhi said, adding that he would bring it to the cabinet later in the day.

Al Jazeera and the government in Doha had no immediate comment.

“This is a station that incites, this is a station that films troops in assembly areas (outside Gaza) … that incites against the citizens of Israel – a propaganda mouthpiece,” Karhi told Israel’s Army Radio.

“It is unconscionable that Hamas spokespeople’s message goes through this station,” he said, adding: “I hope we will finish with this today.” It was not clear if the latter statement referred to a cabinet discussion or implementation of a closure. (Writing by Dan Williams; editing by David Evans)