Israel will not renew visa of top UN humanitarian official

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel has declined to renew the visa for Jonathan Whittall, the senior U.N. aid official for the occupied Palestinian territories, a U.N. spokesperson said on Friday, adding there were intensifying threats of reduced access to suffering civilians.

Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said visas for U.N. staff were recently renewed for shorter periods than usual and access requests to Gaza were denied…