Israel stops giving automatic visas to UN workers over Hamas suspicions

ISRAEL says it will stop automatic visas for United Nations staff as it suspects some of them to be “complicit partners” with the terrorist group Hamas.

In the latest episode of Israel’s row with the UN, Eylon Levy, a government spokesman, said his country would stop giving the green light to all UN workers.

It will instead scrutinise their applications to be approved to work in Israel.

“The ministry of foreign affairs has announced that visa requests by UN employees will no longer be granted automatically, and will instead be considered on a case-by-case basis,” said Mr Levy, calling some UN staffers “complicit partners” with Hamas.

Mr Levy criticised the UN for “deflecting blame on to Israel” and “covering up for Hamas” throughout the twomonth-long ground operation in Gaza, which was triggered by the attack on southern Israel on Oct 7.

Various UN agencies and officials, including António Guterres, the UN secretarygeneral, have made scathing statements about Israel, prompting the rebukes and calls for Mr Guterres to resign.

Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Monday that he personally asked the ministry not to extend the visa of one unnamed UN employee in Israel and deny another staffer’s application.

Mr Cohen has been one of the UN’S biggest critics in Israel, calling its stance in the aftermath of the Hamas attack a “disgrace”.

The Israel Defense Forces yesterday released a recording of what it said was a phone call between an Israeli officer and an unnamed Gaza resident, exposing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as allegedly collaborating with Hamas.

The unnamed Gaza resident claimed Hamas are “the ones in charge of the agency”, referring to the UNRWA.