Closing Al Jazeera in Palestine Clear Violation of Free Speech: Gaza Govt.

This measure will harm Israel because it falsely praises democracy and human rights, but it has shown that it has committed gross violations in this regard, the Gaza government said in a statement.

“We condemn the shameful silence of many countries that consider themselves human rights advocates, while they are engaged in a genocidal war and participate in the war to make the media people silent,” it added.

Earlier on Sunday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the Israeli regime’s decision to shut down Al Jazeera as a blatant violation of freedom of expression.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to ban Al Jazeera’s activities in the occupied territories.

Netanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter.

Israeli officials have long accused the Qatar-based network of bias against the regime and collaborating with Palestinian resistance. Al-Jazeera has rejected the accusations, which have only intensified during the months-long war on Gaza.

In a statement on X, Al Jazeera denounced the “criminal move”, saying it “violates the human right to access information.”

The controversial decision runs the risk of escalating tensions with Qatar, which funds the network, at a time when Doha is involved in mediation efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international news organizations that was still operating in the besieged Gaza, broadcasting bloody scenes of deaths and destruction from the Palestinian enclave.