Qatar's Al Jazeera denounced on Thursday the Palestinian Authority's decision to suspend its broadcasting and operations in the Palestinian Territories, saying it was an “attempt to conceal reality” in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority had announced the decision on Wednesday evening, accusing the channel of “inciting sedition” and “interfering” in its affairs.

“The competent ministerial committee, comprising the Ministries of Culture, Interior and Communications, has decided to suspend broadcasting and freeze all activities of the Al Jazeera channel and its bureau in Palestine” and to "suspend the work of all journalists, employees, teams and affiliated channels until its legal status is rectified," according to the official Wafa news agency.

“This decision comes in response to Al Jazeera's insistence on broadcasting content and reports characterized by disinformation, incitement to sedition and interference in internal Palestinian affairs,” the agency added.

An Al Jazeera employee in the occupied West Bank confirmed to AFP that the channel's Ramallah office had been informed of the suspension on Wednesday.

On Wednesday evening, Al Jazeera broadcast images showing Palestinian Authority policemen bringing its journalists in Ramallah an official court document, dated Jan. 1, 2025.

The Qatari channel denounced the suspension on Thursday, saying it came at a time “when the Palestinian Authority is trying to dissuade Al Jazeera from covering the worsening events in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” and after “a campaign of intimidation” against its journalists.

Already banned in Israel

The Palestinian Authority, chaired by Mahmoud Abbas, has partial administrative authority in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

For several weeks now, its security forces have been involved in clashes with armed factions in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, which have already resulted in around 10 deaths.

These groups, most of whose members belong to the Islamist movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad, consider themselves more effective in the fight against Israel than the Palestinian Authority.

Al Jazeera, which defends the neutrality of its work, said on Thursday that the suspension of its activities was “an attempt to conceal the reality on the ground in the occupied territories, particularly in cities like Jenin and its refugee camp.”

Hamas, the arch-rival of Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, described Al Jazeera's suspension as a “flagrant violation of press freedom” and a “repressive act designed to silence dissenting voices.”

“This decision is part of a recent series of arbitrary measures taken by the Authority to hinder public rights and freedoms, and strengthen its security grip on the Palestinian people,” the movement added, calling on the Palestinian Authority to "immediately reverse its decision."

Islamic Jihad, another armed Palestinian group, also protested against the ban on Al Jazeera. “We condemn the authorities' decision to close Al Jazeera's office in Palestine, at a time when our people and our cause urgently need to make their suffering known to the whole world,” said the organization.

Israel had already decided last May to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting in the country and to close its offices there, the result of a long-standing conflict between the channel and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which escalated during the war that has been underway in the Gaza Strip for almost 15 months.

The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Al Jazeera journalists of being “terrorist agents” in Gaza affiliated to Hamas, the perpetrator of an unprecedented attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that sparked off the war.