Al Jazeera aired footage of Israeli troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days.

It follows an extraordinary order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera's broadcast position in East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country. However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Al Jazeera denounced the move as it continued broadcasting live from Amman in neighbouring Jordan.

Armed Israeli troops entered the office and told a reporter live on air it would be shut down, saying that staff needed to leave immediately.

The network later aired Israeli troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office.

Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage.

“I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”

Al-Omari later said that Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment in the bureau, as tear gas and gunshots could be seen and heard in the area.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced the Israeli raid and order.

“This arbitrary military decision is a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets," it said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “deeply concerned” by the Israeli raid.

“Journalists must be protected and allowed to work freely,” it said.

 It remains unclear whether the Israeli military would target Al Jazeera's operation in Gaza as well.

An order closing Al Jazeera in Israel has been repeatedly renewed in the time since, but it hadn't as of yet ordered the Ramallah offices closed.

The Israeli government has taken action against individual reporters over decades.

It also blocked the foreign broadcasts of the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen news channel at the start of the war.