Leading NGOs slam Israel’s halt in visa renewals for aid workers in Gaza and West Bank

By JULIA FRANKEL
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — A coalition of humanitarian and nongovernmental groups has slammed Israel’s halt in renewing visas for international aid workers in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Since early February, Israel’s welfare ministry has stopped the renewal process saying it doesn’t have the bandwidth to investigate aid workers’ potential affiliations to militant groups. AIDA, a coalition of 80 humanitarian organizations, said on Thursday that halting the visas is kneecapping their operations when aid workers are most needed, more than five months into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 30,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave, and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in the territory.