Israel Has Stopped Giving Visas To Aid Workers, Denounces UN

The United Nations denounced today that the Israeli authorities have stopped granting visas to humanitarian workers, at a time when the country is facing growing opposition from international organizations because of the war in Gaza.

"The Israeli authorities have stopped granting visas to officials and staff of the international community of non-governmental organizations," wrote the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on the institution's social media account X.

The message refers to a statement by the director of UNRWA, in which Philippe Lazzarini denounces that Israel is progressively reducing the presence of humanitarian agencies and journalists, and recalls that since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, more than 11 months ago, Tel Aviv has prevented the press from entering the enclave independently.

"Humanitarian organizations and international media are being prevented from doing their work. This must stop and the restrictions must be lifted," wrote Lazzarini.

When asked about the agency's accusations, the spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister's office, David Mencer, told EFE that "UNRWA is a front for Hamas."

Last Friday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing unnamed sources present at a confidential parliamentary meeting, reported that the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs had stopped issuing visas to aid workers, arguing that it did not have the resources to review the applications. Instead, Israeli authorities plan to form an inter-ministerial group, including intelligence and police officials, to review the applications. 

In February, Haaretz reported that Israel had stopped granting visas to aid workers operating in the Palestinian territories. 

The visa issue has become a bone of contention since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, where more than 41,200 people have been killed and the vast majority of the population lives displaced in subhuman conditions.

 Last year, after UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech that the Hamas attacks of 7 October (in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 kidnapped, triggering the Israeli offensive in the enclave) had not come "out of nowhere", Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan announced that his country would begin refusing visas to UN representatives.