ISRAELI troops raided the offices of satellite news network Al Jazeera in the occupied West Bank early today and ordered their closure.

Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language channel broadcast live footage of Israeli troops instructing the bureau in Ramallah to shut for 45 days.

Its closure follows an Israeli police raid in May on the network’s premises in East Jerusalem during which equipment was seized, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites. However, the Qatari-backed news organisation has continued operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.