Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced that his government has decided to shut down the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera.

The government “unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu said on X. There was no immediate comment from the channel headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

An Al Jazeera correspondent on its Arabic service said the order would affect the broadcaster’s operations in Israel and in east Jerusalem, where it has been doing live shots for months since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

Israeli media said the vote allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days, according to the decision. “My government decided unanimously: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will close in Israel,” Netanyahu posted on X. Al Jazeera as vehemently denied that it incites against Israel.

The decision escalated Israel’s long-running feud against Al Jazeera. It also threatened to heighten tensions with Qatar, which owns the channel, at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza. Israel has long had rocky ties with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against it.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. Israel accuses Al Jazeera of collaborating with Hamas. Al Jazeera, the Doha-based broadcaster funded by Qatar’s government.

While Al Jazeera’s English operation often resembles the programming found on other major broadcast networks, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region.

(With agency inputs)