Israel’s government has reversed its decision to shut down and seize broadcast equipment belonging to the Associated Press under the same media law it used to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country earlier this month.

The AP called the move “an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law”

The Associated Press brutally criticized the Israeli government on Tuesday after soldiers with the Israeli Defense Forces seized a camera, equipment, and cut its live feed in southern Israel, citing a new censorship law.

The Associated Press issued this statement Tuesday after the Israeli government shut down an AP live feed and seized AP equipment:

The Israeli government said the Associated Press ran afoul of the country’s new media law that banned the Al Jazeera from operating inside the country.

In a sharp reversal, Israel said Tuesday it would return camera and broadcast equipment it had seized from The Associated Press in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Tuesday after the action prompted swift backlash from US officials and press groups.

Israeli officials have reversed a decision to seize journalism equipment from the Associated Press on Tuesday in a move that had initially been widely criticized. The AP had been sharing its broadcast feed of northern Gaza with al Jazeera,

Israeli officials claimed The Associated Press had violated a new broadcasting law by providing images of northern Gaza to Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab broadcaster that the government voted to shut down.

It was also condemned by journalism organisations as a blow to press freedom. Continue reading Al Jazeera has continued operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, which foreign journalists have been banned from entering since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October.

The Associated Press on Tuesday said Israeli authorities had shut down its live camera feed showing Gaza and seized its equipment in what it decried as an “abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcasters law.