Latest news with #JonathanWhittall
Free Malaysia Today
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Israel blocks visa for top UN official after Gaza comments
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar's decision to block a visa for Jonathan Whittall is the latest taken against senior UN officials. (EPA Images pic) JERUSALEM : Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar on Sunday 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,' Saar wrote on X. 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 that Gazans were 'slowly dying' due to the effects of Israel's war against Hamas militants. 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 Oct 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.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel will not renew visa of top UN humanitarian official
Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said visas for UN staff were recently renewed for shorter periods than usual. Israel has declined to renew the visa for Jonathan Whittall, the senior UN aid official for the Palestinian territories, a UN spokesperson said on Friday, adding there were intensifying threats of reduced access to suffering civilians. Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said visas for UN staff were recently renewed for shorter periods than usual and access requests to Gaza were denied for multiple agencies. Kaneko said permits for Palestinian staff to enter east Jerusalem were also withheld. "Last week, it was indicated to us that our current Head of Office, Jonathan Whittall, won't have his visa extended by Israeli authorities beyond August. This came immediately after remarks he made at a press briefing about starving people being killed while trying to reach food," Kaneko said. Israel's mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has previously dismissed UN criticism as being biased. Gaza is in the midst of an Israeli military assault following a deadly October 2023 attack by Hamas terrorists. Terrorists murdered over 1,200 people during their violation of an existing ceasefire and took over 250 hostages - 50 of whom remain in captivity, and less than half of whom are understood to be alive. Tensions between Israel and the UN Released and rescued hostages have testified about experiencing and witnessing abuses in Hamas captivity, including acts of sexual violence and torture. Israel has come under mounting criticism from the UN during its war in the Palestinian enclave, which has internally displaced Gaza's entire population. Solve the daily Crossword
New York Times
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Israel Refuses to Renew Visa of Top U.N. Humanitarian Official for Gaza
Israel has refused to renew the visa of a senior United Nations official who oversees humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, the country's foreign minister said on Sunday, further straining the already tense ties between the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the organization. Jonathan Whittall, the acting head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem, which plays a major role in managing the entry of desperately needed aid into territory, will not be allowed to continue working in Israel, Gideon Saar, the minister, wrote on social media. Mr. Saar cited what he called Mr. Whittall's 'biased and hostile conduct against Israel' as the grounds for the decision. Andrea De Domenico, Mr. Whittall's predecessor, also had to leave Israel when the country's previous foreign minister refused to allow him to continue working there. The Israeli authorities had indicated that Mr. Whittall's visa would not be extended beyond August, according to the U.N. agency known as OCHA. It said the decision had come after remarks that he had made about Gazans being killed while trying to get food at aid distribution sites. 'Speaking about conditions we see on the ground is a core element of OCHA's mandate,' the agency said in a statement in response to the decision not to renew Mr. Whittall's visa. 'Attempts to silence us are not new, but threats of reduced access to the civilians we're trying to serve are intensifying.' On Sunday, Israeli troops killed and wounded dozens of Palestinians after opening fire near a border crossing as U.N. aid trucks entered the territory, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations has strongly criticized the devastating humanitarian impact of the nearly two-year Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza. The war was set off by the Hamas-led attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which the Israeli authorities said killed roughly 1,200 people saw the taking of about 200 people hostage. The subsequent Israeli military campaign has killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and hospital workers. Its tolls include thousands of children A vast majority of Gazans have been displaced and now face a hunger crisis, with the World Food Program saying that nearly one in three are not eating for days at a time because they had limited access to food. Mr. Whittall had been a frequent critic of Israeli policies on aid, particularly an Israeli-backed relief effort run by the private and contentious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. A series of shootings near the foundations' aid sites have caused hundreds of deaths, as desperate Palestinians have sought aid. 'What we are seeing is carnage. It is weaponized hunger,' Mr. Whittall said in June. 'It is forced displacement. It's a death sentence for people just trying to survive.'
The National
a day ago
- Politics
- The National
Israel denies visa extension to senior UN humanitarian official over Gaza 'lies'
Israel has refused to extend the residency visa of a senior UN humanitarian official due to his comments on the Gaza war, accusing him of spreading "lies". Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza and the West Bank, will be forced to leave his home in Jerusalem after Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered his permit be withdrawn. Mr Whittall, a South African, regularly visits Gaza and has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. In April, he said Gazans were "slowly dying" due to the effects of Israel's war. "I have instructed not to extend the residency permit of the head of the OCHA office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall," Mr Saar wrote on X in Hebrew. He said Mr Whittall had engaged in "biased and hostile conduct against Israel, which distorted reality, presented false reports, slandered Israel and even violated the UN's own rules regarding neutrality". "Whoever spreads lies about Israel - Israel will not work with him," Mr Saar said. Mr Saar's decision is the latest taken by Israel against senior UN officials. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said last week that visas for three heads of UN agencies working in Gaza – the OCHA, human rights agency OHCHR, and the UN's Palestinian relief agency UNRWA – had not been reissued. 'Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians,' OCHA chief Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council earlier this month. The UN has been critical of Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On Sunday the OCHA said Israel's latest eviction order in Gaza, this time in the Deir Al Balah area, would deal "another devastating blow" to aid efforts. On Sunday morning, the Israeli military ordered Gazans in the area to leave immediately due to imminent operations. The area is where many international aid organisations have attempted to distribute aid. But the OCHA said UN staff were "remaining" in the territory and their coordinates had been shared with "relevant parties", the agency said. At least 1,000 Gazan families had already fled, it added. "UN staff are remaining in Deir Al Balah, spread across dozens of premises," it said. "These locations – as with all civilian sites – must be protected, regardless of displacement orders." The area contains several humanitarian warehouses, four primary health clinics, four medical points, and critical water infrastructure including three wells, one reservoir, one solid waste dumping site and one wastewater pumping station, the OCHR said. It warned that any damage to the facilities "will have life-threatening consequences". Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to OCHA estimates. Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza's population – which is also facing severe food shortages – has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli eviction orders. According to the OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8 per cent of Gaza's area is now under displacement orders or within Israeli militarised zones. That leaves "2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the strip, where essential services have collapsed", the UN agency said. "The new order cuts through Deir Al Balah all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, further splintering the strip," it said. "It will limit the ability of the UN and our partners to move safely and effectively within Gaza, choking humanitarian access when it is needed most."
Roya News
a day ago
- Politics
- Roya News
Gaza civil defence says 'Israeli' fire kills 93 aid seekers
Gaza's civil defence agency said 'Israeli' forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire" near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from 'Israel' and cleared checkpoints. 'Israel's' military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming 'Israeli' fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centres. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable". 'Israel' on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in 'Israel', Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. 'Israeli' Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. 'Expanding' operations Most of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war and there have been repeated evacuation calls across large parts of the coastal enclave. On Sunday morning, the 'Israeli' military told residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the Deir el-Balah area to move south immediately due to imminent operations in the area. Whole families were seen carrying what few belongings they have on packed donkey carts heading south. The displacement order was "another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip", the UN OCHA said on Sunday. According to the aid agency, 87.8 percent of Gaza is now under displacement orders or within 'Israeli' militarized zones, leaving "2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12 per cent of the Strip, where essential services have collapsed."
