OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/DOHA: Israeli police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office on Sunday following a government decision to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station’s local operations, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.

Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room. The Al Jazeera source said the hotel was in East Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet shut down the network for as long as the war in Gaza continues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.

Al Jazeera called the move a “criminal action” and rejected the accusation the network threatened Israeli security as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk. It said that it reserved the right to “pursue every legal step”.