Israel’s PM Netanyahu accused the Qatari-owned network of “incitement” and said the cabinet decision had been unanimous. Al Jazeera called the move a “criminal act”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the closure of Al Jazeera in the country on the grounds that the Qatar-owned television network threatens national security, a move the broadcaster condemned as a “criminal act.”

“The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu said in a social media post.

Ofir Gendelman, Netanyahu’s spokesperson to the Arab world, said the decision would be “implemented immediately.”

Gendelman said Al Jazeera’s “broadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel’s correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera’s websites will be blocked on the Internet”.

“Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited IDF soldiers. It is time to expel the mouthpiece of Hamas from our country,” he quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Al Jazeera, which bills itself as the “first independent news channel in the Arab world”, condemned Sunday’s decision as a “criminal act” that it said “violates the human right to access information”.

“Israel’s suppression of the free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists did not deter us from performing our duty. More than 140 Palestinian journalists have been martyred for the sake of the truth since the beginning of the war on Gaza,” it said.

The network also rejected accusations that it harmed Israel’s security as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk. It said it reserved the right to “pursue every legal step” and urged media and human rights organisations “to condemn the Israeli authorities’ repeated attacks on the press and journalists.”

Foreign journalists are banned from entering Gaza, and Al Jazeera staff there have been some of the only reporters on the ground. Several of the network’s journalists working in the Palestinian enclave have been injured or killed since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7.

Sunday’s decision comes after Israel’s parliament last month overwhelmingly passed a new national security law granting top ministers the power to ban broadcasts by foreign channels deemed a national security threat and to shut their offices.

Shortly after that law passed, Netanyahu singled out Al Jazeera. He said in early April that he intended “to act immediately in accordance with the new law” to stop the outlet’s activity in the country. His government has accused Al Jazeera of anti-Israeli bias.

In response, Al Jazeera – which has been producing on-the-ground reporting of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza – slammed the decision and vowed to continue its “bold and professional coverage.”

Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 250 others during its unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel. Almost 130 of those hostages are still unaccounted for – and among them, at least 34 are presumed dead.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 34,683 people, mostly women and children, and injured 78,018, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Authorities say Al Jazeera has close links with Hamas, which the network vehemently denies. The channel has accused Israel of deliberately targeting its staff.

Journalists including Hamza Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, have been killed by Israeli strikes. Israel denies targeting journalists.