Israel to return video equipment seized from Associated Press

The Associated Press' live video of Gaza returned Wednesday, after the Israeli government said it would return equipment and a camera that it had seized from the wire service hours after it blocked the agency's live stream of Gaza.

Israel had seized the agency's equipment, which was located in southern Israel, after accusing the wire service of violating the law by providing images of troop locations to Al Jazeera, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said.

The Israeli government used that law to order Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based broadcaster, to close down its offices in Israel earlier this month.

The Biden administration and journalism organizations also condemned the decision to seize the equipment, The Associated Press reported.

The broadcast put soldiers "at risk, despite repeated warnings on the matter," Karhi said in a post in Hebrew on X, formerly Twitter.

The Defense Ministry subsequently decided to reexamine issues related to broadcasts from sensitive locations, so the equipment was returned to the agency while security concerns are being reviewed.

This is not the first time that Israel has expressed concerns about troop locations. Weeks after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,200 people, Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps complied with Israel's request to turn off their crowd-sourced traffic updates due to concerns it could reveal military movements. 

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