The Associated Press decried Israel's shutdown of its live feed showing Gaza for exploiting the country's newly passed foreign broadcaster law.

"The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment," Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at AP, said in a statement.

"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," Easton added.

Officials from the Israeli Communications Ministry arrived at the AP office in Sderot in southern Israel and seized a camera and broadcasting equipment. They handed the agency a piece of paper signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi accusing the news agency of violating Israel's foreign broadcaster law.

Israeli authorities accused the global news agency of providing images to the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera television, one of thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations.

The AP said it complies with Israel's military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troops movements that could endanger soldiers. Before the seizure, the AP live feed was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza.

The AP called on Israel to immediately return its equipment and reinstate its live feed "so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world."

The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory.

The seizure followed a verbal order Thursday to cease the live transmission - which the news organization refused to do.

"In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state," the ministry said in a statement.

Last month, Israel's parliament passed a law that allows the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscates their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcast poses "an actual harm to the state's security."

In the first application of the law, Israeli authorities raided the offices of Doha-based Al Jazeera television and confiscated its equipment.

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid called the move "an act of madness."

"This is not Al Jazeera. This is an American news outlet," he said. "This government acts as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be shunned all over the world."

Israel's communications minister, Shlomo Karhi responded that the law, passed unanimously by the government, stated that any device used to deliver Al Jazeera content could be seized. "We will continue to act decisively against anyone who tries to harm our soldiers and the security of the state, even if you don’t like it," he wrote to Lapid on X.

Israeli officials used the law to close down the offices of the Qatar-based broadcaster on May 5 and confiscated the channel’s equipment, banned its broadcasts, and blocked its websites.

At the time, media groups warned of the serious implications for press freedom in the country since the law gives Karhi, part of the hard-right flank of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, wide leeway to enforce it against other media.

"With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station," the Foreign Press Association in Israel, which represents dozens of international news outlets operating in the country and the Palestinian territories, said earlier this month. "And the government may not be done. The prime minister has the authority to target other foreign media that he deems to be ‘acting against the state.’"

"This is a dark day for the media. This is a dark day for democracy," it said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. was "looking into" what happened and that it was "essential" for journalists to be allowed to do their jobs, but she stopped short of condemning Israel's actions.

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against the country.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres. AP is also in Gaza.

During Israel's previous attacks in 2021, the army destroyed the building housing AP’s Gaza office, claiming Hamas had used the building for military purposes. The AP denied any knowledge of a Hamas presence, and the army never provided any evidence to back up its claim.

Israel continues a brutal offensive on Gaza despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 35,200 Palestinians have since been killed, the vast majority being women and children, and over 79,200 injured since early October following an attack by Hamas.

More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit "acts of genocide" and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Israel killed at least 103 journalists since Oct. 7, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The number of media workers killed by Israel in approximately three months exceeds the total count of journalists killed throughout the entire six-year span (69) of World War II, according to the Freedom Forum, a Washington-based foundation advocating for press freedom.

In comparison to Gaza, during the 20-yearlong Vietnam War (1955-1975) 63 journalists were killed while 17 media workers lost their lives in the three-year-long Korean War (1950-1953).

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) based in New York, in the war between Russia and Ukraine that started in February 2022 and has been ongoing for about two years, a total of 17 journalists have lost their lives.

In Gaza, however, the issue is not only murder but how their immediate families have also been targeted by Israel.