The State Department paused all visitor visas for people from Gaza on Saturday and will conduct a “review of the process and procedures” used for granting “medical-humanitarian” visas.
“All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days,” the department wrote in a statement posted to X.
It is unclear how long the pause will last but it will delay urgent medical travel for injured children in the war torn country to visit the US for medical care.
Humanitarian aid group, HEAL Palestine, is an American Organization which seeks to evacuate and provide medical assistance for injured Gazans, particular children, wounded during Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas.
According to the organization’s website, it has successfully evacuated 148 total Gazans, including 63 injured children, bringing them to the U.S. for medical care.
HEAL Palestine announced earlier this month that the newest batch of 11 critically injured children, ages 6 to 15, and their families landed in several major American cities earlier this month for medical care.
This news led to far-right activist Laura Loomer accusing the organization of “mass importing GAZANS into the US” under the “false claim” of humanitarian aid.
The “Trump administration needs to shut this abomination down ASAP before a family member of one of these GAZANS goes rogue and kills Americans for HAMAS,” she added.
Loomer claimed credit for the State Department stopping visas for people from Gaza on Saturday writing in a post on X that the announcement came “following the release of my reports yesterday exposing flights of GAZANS arriving at airports all across the US.”
