LONDON: The UN under-secretary-general for safety and security, Gilles Michaud, was briefly detained and interrogated by Israeli authorities upon arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday.
He was questioned for nearly 45 minutes about an official visit he made to the Gaza Strip in August 2025, which was coordinated with Israeli authorities, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Officers from Israel’s internal security agency confiscated Michaud’s passport and moved him to a waiting area, treatment he described as “unusual” for a senior UN official. He canceled planned meetings in Israel, and said he had not encountered such behavior from authorities in other countries while serving with the UN.
UN officials and agencies have criticized the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Some have accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory, where 72,000 people have been killed since October 2023, the majority of them civilians. They include 391 people who were working for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
