Along with cumbersome border checks and relentless Israeli bombardment, the humanitarian response in Gaza faces a new challenge: a de facto freeze on visas for many international aid workers, AFP reports.

Israeli authorities have stopped issuing new visas or renewing old ones for foreign employees of international NGOs, most of whom occupy senior positions, according to three senior humanitarian officials and a body representing more than 80 groups.

As of Thursday, 57 aid workers’ visas had expired since the war broke out on October 7, while 42 more “will expire in the coming few weeks”, said Faris Arouri, director of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), whose members work in the Palestinian territories.

At least 50 requests for new visas — for staffers ramping up the response to worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the West Bank — have gone nowhere, Arouri said.

“The total is close to 150 positions that we urgently need as of two months ago, not tomorrow,” Arouri said.

“We see it as part and parcel of a larger-scale Israeli blockade on aid operations and humanitarian aid both in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The United Nations has also been affected, with scores of visa applications currently “unanswered”, a UN official told AFP, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told AFP there was “a change of procedures… regarding the issuing of visas to the NGOs” and that the issue “will be resolved in the near future”.