Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of three key United Nations agencies operating in Gaza, in what U.N. officials say is retaliation for their work advocating for the protection of Palestinian civilians amid the ongoing genocide.

The decision, widely seen as retaliation for the U.N.’s efforts to protect Palestinians and expose Israel’s violations of international law, has sparked outrage and deepened fears for Gaza’s already desperate population.

The targeted agencies—the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)—are vital lifelines for Palestinians enduring Israel’s relentless military campaign. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed that visa renewals for agency heads, including OCHA’s Jonathan Whittall, OHCHR’s Ajith Sunghay, and UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini, have been systematically denied, with Lazzarini barred outright from entering Gaza.

During a Security Council session on Wednesday, U.N. humanitarian coordinator Tom Fletcher condemned Israel’s actions as a calculated effort to silence advocates for Palestinian rights. “Israel is punishing us for reporting the truth about the suffering in Gaza,” Fletcher said, describing a humanitarian catastrophe where hunger is rampant and Palestinians are gunned down while searching for food. He stressed that, as the occupying power, Israel is legally obligated to meet the needs of Gaza’s civilians—a responsibility it is blatantly failing to uphold.

Israeli Obstruction Deepens Gaza’s Suffering

The visa denials are part of a broader pattern of Israeli obstruction, including the withholding of security clearances for aid workers, with 56% of emergency medical team entries blocked this year. “Israel is strangling humanitarian access,” Fletcher warned, noting that hundreds of aid workers have been killed while those who remain face the same hunger and danger as Gaza’s civilians.

Israel’s U.N. Mission offered a vague promise to “review” the visa situation while accusing U.N. agencies of bias for documenting Israel’s war crimes. Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, Israel’s political coordinator at the U.N., deflected criticism by claiming the U.N. ignores Hamas’s role in the conflict. However, critics argue this is a tactic to divert attention from Israel’s documented abuses, including the deaths of over 58,000 Palestinians—more than half women and children—reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel disputes these figures, accusing Palestinian authorities of inflating numbers, despite widespread evidence of civilian casualties.

UNRWA Under Attack

Israel’s hostility toward UNRWA has intensified since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which killed around 1,200 people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and escalated its smear campaign, falsely accusing the agency of ties to Hamas. These claims, widely debunked, are seen as an attempt to dismantle UNRWA’s critical work supporting Palestinian refugees.

A Call for Accountability

The visa denials come amid growing international condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza, now in its tenth month of relentless bombardment. The U.N. has faced additional attacks from Israel, including accusations of antisemitism against a U.N.-backed commission investigating war crimes and criticism of Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for calling Israel’s actions “genocide”—a charge Israel and its ally, the United States, reject without addressing the mounting evidence.

As Gaza’s humanitarian crisis spirals, with aid workers and civilians alike trapped in a cycle of hunger and violence, the U.N. is demanding immediate access for its personnel and accountability for Israel’s violations of international law. Without urgent action, the international community risks abandoning Gaza’s Palestinians to an ever-worsening catastrophe at the hands of Israel’s policies. (ILKHA)