US-based charity HEAL Palestine, and other rights groups have criticised the State Department's decision to stop issuing visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, saying it will harm wounded children seeking medical treatment on short-term US visas.
The State Department said on Saturday it was halting all visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, while it conducted "a full and thorough" review, after far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer said Palestinian refugees were entering the US.
HEAL Palestine said there was no refugee resettlement programme, as stated by Loomer, and that the group's efforts were part of a medical treatment programme. It also stated that donations funded the programme and did not use US government money.
The charity sponsored and brought "severely injured children to the US on temporary visas for essential medical treatment not available at home," it said in a statement.
"After their treatment is complete, the children and any accompanying family members return to the Middle East."
The US has issued more than 3,800 B1/B2 visitor visas, which permit foreigners to seek medical treatment in the US, to holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents so far in 2025. That figure includes 640 visas issued in May.
The Palestinian Authority issues travel documents to residents of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The State Department said a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas were issued to people from Gaza in recent days, but did not provide a figure.
Islamophobic rant
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund condemned the decision to stop the visas.
CAIR condemned the move and "Marco Rubio for taking direction from Laura Loomer, and we call on him to address whether her reported claim that they spoke directly is true."
"By caving to Loomer's pressure and banning Palestinian children injured by American weapons from seeking specialised medical care in America, Secretary Rubio has effectively given a notoriously unhinged bigot and her online mob veto power over State Department policy," CAIR said in its statement.
Loomer told the New York Times she spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to warn about what she called a threat from "Islamic invaders."
Rubio said the government was evaluating the process of granting such visas after concerns by some members of Congress regarding alleged ties to extremism. He said their offices had presented evidence of such ties, but he gave no details.
Israel has killed over 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, since the start of the carnage.
Some 11,000 Palestinians are feared buried under rubble of annihilated homes, according to Palestine's official WAFA news agency.
Experts, however, contend that the actual death toll significantly exceeds what the Gaza authorities have reported, estimating it could be around 200,000.
Over the course of the genocide, Israel has reduced most of the blockaded enclave to ruins, and practically displaced all of its population.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
