Israel Denies Visa Renewal for Top UN Aid Official Amid Gaza Crisis

Israel has refused to renew the visa of Jonathan Whittall, the senior United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, drawing concern from the UN amid escalating restrictions on aid access to Gaza.

According to Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Whittall’s visa will not be extended beyond August. The move came shortly after he spoke out about civilians being killed while trying to reach food during Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Kaneko added that Israel has also been limiting visa durations for other UN personnel, denying access requests to Gaza for several agencies, and withholding permits for Palestinian staff traveling to East Jerusalem.

The visa denial is the latest development in the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, triggered by the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the kidnapping of around 250 Israelis, according to Israeli data. Israel’s military response has since displaced Gaza’s entire population and pushed the territory into a hunger emergency.

Gaza’s health ministry reports that over 58,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the conflict, with nearly 900 deaths occurring near aid distribution sites and convoys in the past six weeks alone, according to the UN rights office. Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and war crimes at the International Criminal Court, both of which it denies, while rejecting UN criticism as biased.

The refusal to extend Whittall’s visa highlights growing tensions between Israel and international aid agencies, further complicating efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the more than two million people trapped in Gaza.