Israeli officials have seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to the Associated Press in southern Israel, in the latest moves against media covering the Gaza war.
Officials accused the US-based wire service, which has subscribers around the globe, of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera.
The Qatari satellite channel, which is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from AP, was forced to close its offices in Israel on 5 May after a government vote to use new laws to close the satellite news network’s operations in the country.
Officials from the communications ministry arrived at the AP location in the southern Israeli border town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon and seized the equipment. They handed the news agency a piece of paper, signed by the communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, alleging it was violating the country’s foreign broadcaster law.
“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment,” said Lauren Easton, the vice-president of corporate communications at the news organisation.
“The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law.
“We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”
The White House said it was looking into the incident, which it described as concerning. The press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said it believed journalists had the ability and right to do their jobs.
The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, posted on X: “The confiscation of the equipment of AP, the largest news agency in the world … is an act of madness. This is not Al Jazeera, this is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes.”
Jodi Rudoren, the editor-in-chief of the US Jewish magazine the Forward, the US Jewish magazine described the move as “shonda,” the Yiddish word for shame. “Democracies do not suppress journalism. Full stop. Israel must reverse this unconscionable crackdown on independent reporting,” she wrote on X.
Before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. AP complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details such as troops movements that could endanger soldiers. The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory.
The seizure followed a verbal order on Thursday to cease the live transmission, which the news organisation refused to do.
“In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state,” the ministry said in a statement.
The seizure of AP’s equipment comes amid tougher restrictions for journalists operating in Israel, whereby international journalists have been denied access to Gaza by Israel during the conflict, despite a case brought by the Foreign Press Association in Israel.
It follows widespread international condemnation of the Israel Defense Forces’ alleged targeting of Palestinian journalists, a claim denied by the IDF.
As of 21 May, at least 105 journalists and media workers were among the more than 36,000 people killed since the war began on 7 October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The figure includes 100 Palestinian journalists, two Israelis and three Lebanese, in the deadliest period for journalists since the CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against the country. The Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu, has called it a “terror channel” that spreads incitement.
Al Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres.
The Foreign Press Association, which represents dozens of international news outlets in Israel, said earlier this month that the forced closure of the Al Jazeera bureau marked a “dark day for democracy”.
It said: “With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station. And the government may not be done. The prime minister has the authority to target other foreign media that he deems to be ‘acting against the state’.”
The war in Gaza began with a Hamas attack in Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.