UNRWA Commissioner-General on Gaza: Silencing voices

As if banning international media is not enough.

Humanitarian workers are also banned when they report on atrocities committed in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The denial of a visa to our colleague from OCHA oPt is the latest in a pattern of restrictions.

Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli authorities have increasingly denied or failed to renew visas for UN staff, including Humanitarian Coordinators,  heads of UN agencies, and staff of International NGOs.

In addition, legislative restrictions to intimidate Israeli Human rights organisations were adopted.

All UNRWA international staff have not been granted visas for nearly six months now.

I, too, have been denied entry to Gaza since March 2024 after the ICJ ruling, and to the West Bank including East Jerusalem since June 2024.

Visas must be granted to humanitarian staff to support the work of their Palestinian colleagues.

Coupled with the ongoing ban of international media to enter Gaza, these visa denials are deepening the spread of dis-information and increasing de-humanization of the people in Gaza.