Israel will not renew the visa of a UN staff member in the country and will also deny the visa application of another UN employee as the country once again expresses its dissatisfaction with the world body, which criticized Israel’s targeting of civilians and hospitals during the war. War in Gaza. An overwhelming majority of the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed are civilians.
“We will stop working with those who cooperate with the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas,” Eli Cohen, Israeli Foreign Minister, declared Monday on X.
“We will no longer remain silent in the face of UN hypocrisy! he said. Israel has accused the UN of being biased.
Cohen called the UN’s conduct a “disgrace” since war broke out on October 7 after Hamas carried out deadly attacks in Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed. The UN has criticized Hamas for the October 7 attacks and has repeatedly called for the release of prisoners captured by the group.
UN officials have criticized Israel’s targeting of residential areas, schools and hospitals as well as its restrictions on aid deliveries during the comprehensive siege imposed on Gaza following the October 7 attacks. More than 100 journalists, around 270 medical staff and at least 134 UN staff were killed in the Israeli strikes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and denounced the grave humanitarian crisis. The UN, aid groups and rights groups have warned that Palestinians now face hunger. The UN chief this month invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, a move aimed at formally warning the Security Council of the global threat posed by Israel’s war on Gaza.
The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a humanitarian ceasefire several times since the start of the war, but votes in the UN Security Council have been blocked and blocked by Israel’s close ally, the United States. He abstained from voting on the latest resolution, allowing it to pass Friday, but the measure was criticized as “insufficient.”
Israel’s foreign minister accused the UN chief, the UN human rights commissioner and the UN Women agency of legitimizing “war crimes and crimes against humanity”, publishing “baseless blood libels” and ignoring “acts of rape committed against Israeli women” for two years. month.
But human rights organizations have also criticized Israel for its war tactics, calling them “collective punishment” of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. The media also denied Israeli claims that Hamas runs a command center under al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, which has been paralyzed by Israeli bombing. Israel has justified its attacks on UN schools, universities and hospitals, saying they were used by Hamas, but it has provided no evidence for its claims.
Israel at war with the UN?
The latest incident is just one of several instances of clashes between Israel and the UN over the Gaza war, in a manner unusual for the world body’s member states.
This month, Israel announced its decision to revoke the residency visa of Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, who left the country last week.
“Someone who did not condemn Hamas for the brutal massacre of 1,200 Israelis…but instead condemns Israel, a democratic country that protects its citizens, cannot serve in the UN and cannot enter Israel ! Cohen wrote about X.
Hastings had criticized Israeli restrictions on much-needed aid deliveries. “The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist,” she said on December 4.
“If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond,” she said, referring to the resumption of Israeli bombing of Gaza in the end of a week’s break in fighting. between Israel and Hamas.
On October 25, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, warned that his country would deny visas to UN officials after Guterres criticized Israel for ordering civilians to evacuate northern Israel. Gaza to southern Gaza and said Hamas’s attacks on Israel “did not happen in an empty manner.”
“I am shocked by the false statements contained in some of my statements… as if I am justifying Hamas’ acts of terror. It’s wrong. It was the opposite,” Guterres said without mentioning Israel by name.
In addition to denying visas and accusing the U.N. chief of being unfit to lead the agency, Cohen also said this month that he had instructed the Israeli mission to the U.N. to oppose the advancement of the annual budget of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees). UNRWA).
The agency has repeatedly warned that humanitarian work in Gaza is at breaking point as the Israeli siege continues. Israel imposed a total siege following the October 7 attacks, cutting off electricity, water and food. The Palestinian enclave has been described as an “open-air prison” due to the land, air and sea blockade imposed by Israel since 2007.
UNRWA hosted around 1.2 million civilians – two-thirds of all displaced people in Gaza – in its shelters across the Strip.
Since the start of the war, more than 100 UNRWA employees have been killed and more than 40 agency buildings in Gaza have been damaged by Israeli strikes.
Last week, Cohen accused the agency of perpetuating “the conflict” and called on countries around the world to “stop turning a blind eye to Hamas’s incitement to terrorism and cynical use of agency facilities.” and residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields.
Israel has also repeatedly targeted Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, who has criticized Israel for violating international laws and occupying the Palestinian territories. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has also been attacked for publishing what Israel says are inaccurate reports. Israel has not provided evidence for its claims.
In October, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Meirav Eilon Shahar, told reporters that her country had been “abandoned” by the world body, saying the heads of its agencies had not done enough to condemn Hamas and growing anti-Semitism.
“We have shared information quite widely and we expect the international community and international organizations, including but not limited to the WHO, to condemn Hamas for using these protected facilities (such as hospitals) for military,” she said.
Guterres reiterated that “the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify Hamas’ appalling attacks.”
“And these appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. »
