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| The Associated Press camera was broadcasting from the Israeli town of Sderot, where northern Gaza can be seen |
Israel has returned broadcasting equipment belonging to the Associated Press, hours after seizing it in southern Israel and shutting down the US news agency's live feed of Gaza.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi reversed the decision following mounting international pressure.
The White House expressed concern, and the Foreign Press Association said it was alarmed by “the latest in a series of chilling steps by the Israeli government to stifle the media.” The UN condemned the move, calling it "shocking."
AP’s vice-president Lauren Easton stated the agency "decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government."
Minister Karhi claimed the equipment was confiscated for violating a new media law by providing images for broadcasts on the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network, which has been banned.
In a statement on X, Karhi said, "Since the Ministry of Defence wishes to examine the matter of the broadcasts from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces, I have now ordered to cancel the operation and return the equipment to the AP agency, until a different decision is made by the Ministry of Defence."
Karhi alleged that the shared images were transmitting "positions of our forces in the northern Gaza Strip, putting them at risk in accordance with security opinions and the government's decision."
Earlier this month, the ministry shut down Al Jazeera's operations in Israel, accusing it of being a "Hamas mouthpiece" and harming national security. Al Jazeera denied these allegations and condemned the ban as a "criminal act" violating human rights, a stance supported by journalism organizations.
Al Jazeera has continued operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, which foreign journalists have been banned from entering since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October.
Officials handed the AP a notice signed by Communications Minister Karhi, alleging it was violating the country’s foreign broadcaster law. The AP rejected a verbal order to cease live transmission last Thursday, stressing that it complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troop movements that could endanger soldiers.
However, the communications ministry accused the AP of broadcasting footage from the balcony of a house in Sderot, showing IDF soldiers and their locations.
"Even though communications ministry inspectors warned them that they were breaking the law and should remove Al Jazeera as a recipient of their content, they continued to do so,” a statement said.
"The law and directives do not distinguish between Al Jazeera itself and suppliers transferring materials to the [news agency] from Israel."
AP’s Lauren Easton responded that “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.” She urged Israeli authorities to return the equipment and reinstate the live feed to provide vital visual journalism globally.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the report “concerning” and emphasized the belief that journalists should have the ability and right to do their jobs.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the confiscation of a major US media outlet’s equipment as “an act of madness.”
The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem warned the seizure would hinder AP’s ability to provide crucial images of northern Gaza to hundreds of clients worldwide, adding that “Israel’s move today is a slippery slope” that could lead to broader media restrictions on vague security grounds.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders accused Israel of “outrageous censorship.”
On May 9, communications ministry inspectors raided a studio used by Al Jazeera in Nazareth, confiscating a camera and other equipment. This followed the ministry's closure of Al Jazeera’s offices in East Jerusalem and the halting of the network’s broadcasts on Israeli cable and satellite companies.
In April, the Israeli parliament approved a new media law allowing foreign networks deemed a threat to national security to be "temporarily" banned for 45-day periods, subject to renewal.
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