Authorities in Israel are not processing visas for their newly recruited staff, according to the United Nations agency that operates in the West Bank and Gaza, a recent report by CNN says.
However, such pretensions have been denied by Israeli officials who have thrown accusations towards the UN agency, of ignoring Israel’s victims of terror, in East Jerusalem as well as the occupied West Bank VisaGuide.World reports.
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the OCHAoPt, also known as Occupied Palestinian Territories accused authorities in Israel last week of delaying issuing visas for the agency, stressing that it is up to authorities to resolve the current situation.
OCHA spokesperson in Geneva, Jens Laerke, expressed his concerns that the situation could have a long-term impact on the humanitarian community’s ability to offer support to Palestinians in need.
“The impact on OCHA’s facilitation of the response planning for 2023 is already being felt,” Laerke, told CNN.
In this regard, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, recommended that Occupied Palestinian Territories visa applications be frozen.
Erdan added that they should not be permitted to come in after there is no reason that United Nations staffers that create a false picture of the Palestinian narrative at the Security Council and lie should be on such a stage from within Israel.
He told Channel 12 that he urged blocking new visas after the agency does not count as terror attacks Molotov cocktails thrown at Israelis in the West Bank and East of Jerusalem streets.
The United Nations considers the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem as occupied territory, and Israeli citizens living there are living in illegal settlements.
Erdan stressed that the agency stressed that they do not have reliable data, when asked by OCHA why they don’t count victims from Israel, according to the CNN report.
The latest report of OCHA did not consist of records of Israelis being injured by stones that were reported to be thrown at civilian vehicles while travelling in the West Bank.
“Reporting is part of OCHA’s mandate, and it is crucial for effective response coordination and advocacy in support of people in need,” Laerke pointed out, in response to Erdan’s assertion.
Laerke added that OCHA has the protection reporting methodology as all countries worldwide while adding that it consists of verification of data as well as shows information in a balanced manner.
In this regard, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel stressed that the visa issue is of a broader discussion within OCHA.
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