Israel has refused to renew visas for heads of at least 3 UN agencies in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three United Nations agencies in Gaza, which the U.N. humanitarian chief blames on their work trying to protect Palestinian civilians in the war-torn territory.

Visas for the local leaders of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA; the human rights agency OHCHR; and the agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA, have not been renewed in recent months, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed.

Tom Fletcher, U.N. head of humanitarian affairs, told the Security Council on Wednesday that the U.N.’s humanitarian mandate is not just to provide aid to civilians in need and report what its staff witnesses but to advocate for international humanitarian law.

“Each time we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve,” he said. “Nowhere today is the tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza.”

Fletcher said, “Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.”

Israel's U.N. Mission said it is looking into the issue. Israel has been sharply critical of UNRWA, even before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack in southern Israel — accusing the agency of colluding with Hamas and teaching anti-Israel hatred, which UNRWA vehemently denies.

Since then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies have claimed that UNRWA is deeply infiltrated by Hamas and that its staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Israel formally banned UNRWA from operating in its territory, and its commissioner general, Swiss-Italian humanitarian Philippe Lazzarini, already has been barred from entering Gaza.

The U.N. identified the other two local leaders affected as Jonathan Whittall, a South African humanitarian expert for OCHA, and Ajith Sunghay, a British-educated international lawyer for OHCHR.

At Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, Fletcher called conditions in Gaza “beyond vocabulary," with food running out and Palestinians seeking something to eat being shot. He said Israel, the occupying power in Gaza, is failing in its obligation under the Geneva Conventions to provide for civilian needs.

In response, Israel accused OCHA of continuing “to abandon all semblance of neutrality and impartiality in its statements and actions, despite claiming otherwise.”

Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, political coordinator at Israel’s U.N. Mission, told the Security Council that some of its 15 members seem to forget that the Oct. 7 attacks killed about 1,200 people and some 250 were taken hostage, triggering the war in Gaza and the humanitarian situation.

“Instead, we’re presented with a narrative that forces Israel into a defendant’s chair, while Hamas, the very cause of this conflict and the very instigator of suffering of Israelis but also of Palestinians, goes unmentioned, unchallenged and immune to condemnation,” she said.

More than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but says more than half were women and children.

Ravina Shamdasani, chief spokesperson for the Geneva-based U.N. human rights body, confirmed Thursday that the head of its office in the occupied Palestinian territories “has been denied entry into Gaza.”

“The last time he tried to enter was in February 2025 and since then, he has been denied entry,” she told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately, this is not unusual. Aid workers, U.N. staff, journalists and others have been denied access to Gaza.”

Israel has accused a U.N.-backed commission probing abuses in Gaza, whose three members just resigned, and the Human Rights Council’s independent investigator Francesca Albanese of antisemitism.

Albanese has accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, which it and its ally the U.S. vehemently deny. The Trump administration recently issued sanctions against Albanese.

Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, told the Security Council that Israel also is not granting “security clearances” for staff to enter Gaza to continue their work and that U.N. humanitarian partners are increasingly being denied entry as well.

He noted that “56% of the entries denied into Gaza in 2025 were for emergency medical teams — frontline responders who save lives.”

“Hundreds of aid workers have been killed; and those who continue to work endure hunger, danger and loss, like everyone else in the Gaza Strip,” Fletcher said.

AP writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

A camp of tents housing displaced Palestinians extends across Gaza City, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.

Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.

Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961 and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.

His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.

“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”

Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.

Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.

Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.

Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.

“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”

A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.

Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.

Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”

“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.

The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.

A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.

Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's all-time leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.

“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”

AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed.

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FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)

FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)