The Israeli government on Monday morning approved in a telephone vote a draft bill to close the Al Jazeera offices in Israel, following Sunday reports that one of the channel's "journalists" was a Hamas commander.
The journalist's Hamas affiliation was revealed after IDF forces in Gaza found his laptop computer in one of Hamas' bases.
In a Sunday post, IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote, "A laptop that belonged to Muhammad Washah, an Al Jazeera journalist, was recovered by IDF in the northern Gaza Strip. It has pics proving he also serves as a senior Hamas military operative in the anti-tank missile array and in late 2022 he moved to work on R&D of aerial weapons for the organisation."
"Intelligence analysis carried out on the computer includes photos linking subject to his Hamas activity."
Previous attempts to shutter Al Jazeera were stalled for various reasons, among them that the channel is owned by Qatar, which is serving as a broker in Israel's attempts to negotiate a hostage deal with the Hamas terror group.