Reporters Without Borders condemns Israel's decision to ban Al Jazeera

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has strongly condemned the Israeli government's decision to shut down broadcaster Al Jazeera in the country in a statement on Sunday.

"The Israeli government voted unanimously to halt operations of Al Jazeera in Israel without specifying when the decision will take effect," RSF said on X.

The RSF denounced "repressive legislation" which censors the channel for its coverage of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 34,700 Palestinians since it began on 7 October.

Al Jazeera went off-air in Israel on Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government decided to shut it down following a long-running feud, a move the Qatar-based channel decried as "criminal".

The RSF's comments came amid international outrage over the ban of the news outlet and calls for the protection of press freedom.

"A free and diverse press landscape is an important cornerstone of any liberal democracy," the ministry wrote on X, adding that the move "sends the wrong signal".

The Foreign Press Association said shutting down Al Jazeera in Israel was "a dark day for the media (and) a dark day for democracy", and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate slammed the move as "a war crime".

Netanyahu declared on Sunday that his government had "unanimously decided (that) the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel".

The Israeli government said the order was initially valid for 45 days, with the possibility of an extension.

Hours later, screens carrying Al Jazeera's Arabic and English channels went blank, apart from a message in Hebrew saying they had "been suspended in Israel".

The shutdown does not apply to the Israeli-occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip, from which Al Jazeera still broadcasts live coverage of Israel's war on Gaza.

At least 141 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, including several Al Jazeera journalists.

Al-Jazeera said on X that Israel's ban "violates the human right to access information".

Launched in Doha in 1996, the network says it has more than 70 bureaux around the globe, with 3,000 employees and an audience in 430 million homes.