Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced that he has ordered that the visa of the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Director Jonathan Whittall not be renewed.

The latter resides in Jerusalem and visits the Gaza Strip very regularly. He has repeatedly denounced the humanitarian conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave. In April, he even stated that Gazans were “slowly dying”.

Shaar, in a post on Platform X, denounced the official’s “hostile and biased behavior toward Israel. He also said that Whittall “distorts reality, presents distorted reports, slanders Israel, and violates UN rules on neutrality.”

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has made it more difficult for UN staff working in the enclave to obtain visas, particularly for members of OCHA, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians. Israel claims that Hamas members had infiltrated UNRWA.