JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sunday he would not renew the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) in Israel, accusing him of spreading falsehoods and breaching neutrality over the Gaza war.
Whittall, a South African based in Jerusalem who often visits Gaza, had described conditions there as dire, saying in April that Gazans were “slowly dying.”
Saar cited Whittall’s “biased and hostile conduct” as the reason for the move, calling it a distortion of reality.
The move follows growing Israeli restrictions on UN agencies since the war began in October 2023, including OCHA, the human rights office OHCHR, and Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA. – AFP
