Israel blocks visa for top UN official after Gaza comments
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Israel's foreign minister has ordered the residency permit of Ocha head Jonathan Whittall to be withdrawn.
SCREENSHOT: X/@UNOCHA
- Israel will not extend the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of Ocha, due to alleged bias.
- Whittall has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, stating Gazans are "slowly dying".
- This decision is part of a wider trend of Israel restricting visas for UN officials since October 2023.
AI generated
JERUSALEM - Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on July 20 said he had ordered the withdrawal of a senior UN humanitarian official’s residency permit, accusing him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza.
“I have instructed not to extend the residency permit of the head of the Ocha (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall,” Mr Saar wrote on X.
Mr Whittall, a South African who lives in Jerusalem and frequently visits the Gaza Strip, has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Palestinian territory.
In April, he said Gazans were “slowly dying” due to the effects of Israel’s war against Hamas militants.
Mr Saar’s decision, which he said came after “biased and hostile conduct against Israel which distorted reality” and broke UN neutrality rules, is the latest taken against senior UN officials.
Since the war began in October 2023, Israel has made it harder to get visas for those working for Ocha, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. AFP
