Tel Aviv [Israel], July 21, (ANI/TPS): Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar instructed the Foreign Ministry to deny a visa to the head of a controversial United Nations agency, he announced on Sunday night.
"There is a limit to every trick," Sa'ar tweeted. "Following biased and hostile conduct against Israel, which distorted reality, presented false reports, slandered Israel and even violated the UN's own rules regarding neutrality, and in accordance with the recommendation of professional bodies, I have instructed not to extend the residence visa of the head of the OCHA office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall."
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is a UN agency responsible for coordinating international humanitarian response efforts during emergencies and crises.
Sa'ar added, "Whoever spreads lies about Israel - Israel will not work with him."
Whittall, divides his time between Jerusalem and Gaza and his visa expires in several weeks.
In 2024, TPS-IL exposed how the agency was republishing Hamas propaganda through reports written by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, whose current and former directors have been identified as Hamas operatives.
The reports, seen by TPS-IL accuse Israel of "genocide," organ theft, using banned thermal weapons, burying Palestinians in mass graves, massacring Palestinians in Gaza's Shifa Hospital, deliberately using Palestinians as human shields, and sexually assaulting Palestinian women. These reports are published on Relief Web, an information portal overseen by OCHA and widely used by the international humanitarian community.
Euro-Med's most recent report on OCHA's Relief Web portal accused the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of being "directly responsible for the escalating Israeli crimes against starved Palestinian civilians near aid distribution points in central and southern Gaza."
Euro-Med further claimed "The foundation's operational model involves luring civilians to specific locations coordinated with the Israeli army, where they are subjected to killing, injury, and cruel and degrading treatment."
In May, OCHA's Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said that 14,000 babies in Gaza would die within 48 hours. He subsequently retracted the claim.
In July 2024, a study of OCHA's humanitarian aid data concluded that its documents consistently relied on unverified statistics from another UN agency, the UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees. UNRWA has been under fire for the role of its staff in Hamas's October 7 attacks, among other things. OCHA's figures are widely sourced by international leaders, diplomats, the media and humanitarian aid organizations, and served as the basis for false claims of famine in Gaza.
In May 2024, OCHA reduced by half the number of women and children killed in the Strip since October 7, raising questions about the conflict's true death toll. The agency did not offer any explanation for the dramatic revision.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 50 remaining hostages, around 30 are believed to be dead. (ANI/TPS)