Sa’ar confirms he ordered not to extend visa of senior UN humanitarian official

By Nava Freiberg

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20 July 2025, 10:02 pm

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Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirms that he has ordered the Foreign Ministry not to extend the visa of the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jonathan Whittall, following earlier reports on the matter.

“There’s a limit to every scheme,” writes Sa’ar in a Hebrew-language post on X.

“Following a biased and hostile conduct against Israel — which distorted reality, presented falsified reports, slandered Israel, and even violated the UN’s own rules of neutrality — and in accordance with the recommendation of professional bodies, I instructed not to extend the visa of the head of OCHA’s office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall,” the foreign minister says.

Earlier today, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Whittall, who resides in Jerusalem and divides his time between there and Gaza, will conclude his position and leave Israel “in the near future.”

The official pointed to recent statements made by Whittall that the conditions near aid distribution sites in Gaza are “created to kill,” and that “what we are seeing [in Gaza] is carnage. It is weaponized hunger. It is forced displacement. And it’s a death sentence for people just trying to survive”.

Visas for three leaders of UN agencies working in Gaza — including those of the OCHA, the human rights agency OHCHR, and the agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA – have not been renewed in recent months, a UN spokesman confirmed last week.

The UN head of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, told the UN Security Council last week that “Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.” He described conditions in Gaza as “beyond vocabulary,” and said Palestinians are being shot while trying to get food.

Israel’s UN mission responded that it is “looking into the issue” and criticized UN agencies like OCHA and UNRWA for abandoning neutrality, citing alleged bias and ties to Hamas.