The US State Department said Saturday the visitor visas would be stopped for people from Gaza, a day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the US for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas.
The State Department said the visas pending review will be stopped while it looks into how “a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas” were issued in recent days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said in an interview that the action came after “outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it.”
Rubio said there were “just a small number” of the visas issued to children in need of medical aid but that they were accompanied by adults. The congressional offices reached out with evidence that “some of the organisations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,” he asserted, without providing evidence or naming those organisations, reports AP.
Meanwhile in the Gaza City, Israel’s military intensifies attacks as part of its expanded operations, forcing tens of thousands of starving Palestinians to flee again, reports Al Jazeera.
Loomer on Friday posted videos on X of children from Gaza arriving earlier this month in San Francisco and Houston for medical treatment with the aid of an organisation called HEAL Palestine. She called it a “national security threat” and asked who signed off on the visas, calling for the person to be fired. She tagged Rubio, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.
Trump has downplayed Loomer’s influence on his administration, but several officials swiftly left or were removed shortly after she publicly criticised them.
HEAL Palestine brings “severely injured children” to the US on temporary visas for treatment they cannot get at home, the statement said. Following treatment, the children and any family members who accompanied them return to the Middle East, the statement said.
“This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,” it said.
Israeli military said on Sunday it will provide tents and other equipment to erect shelters to the Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced multiple times in the last 22 months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, said civilians would be moved to “safe zones” even though these areas have also been repeatedly bombed.
The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for more medical evacuations from Gaza, where Israel has heavily destroyed or damaged much of the territory’s health system.
A WHO description of the medical evacuation process from Gaza published last year explained that the WHO submits lists of patients to Israeli authorities for security clearance. It noted that before the war in Gaza began, 50 to 100 patients were leaving Gaza daily for medical treatment, and it called for a higher rate of approvals from Israeli authorities.
The UN and partners say medicines and even basic health care supplies are low in Gaza after Israel cut off all aid to the territory of over 2 million people for more than 10 weeks earlier this year.