US has suspended visitor visas for Gazans, citing a review of recent humanitarian approvals, sparking condemnation from Palestinian rights groups.
US has suspended visitor visas for Gazans, citing a review of recent humanitarian approvals, sparking condemnation from Palestinian rights groups.
The United States has suspended the issuance of visitor visas for people from Gaza, citing the need for a “full and thorough review” of recent approvals for humanitarian cases, the State Department announced on Saturday.
The pause comes amid mounting criticism from Palestinian rights advocates who say the move will worsen the plight of civilians trapped in Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis.
In a post on X, the State Department said the review was focused on “a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas issued in recent days.” Officials did not specify how long the suspension would last.
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), one of the leading organisations arranging overseas treatment for Gaza’s most vulnerable, condemned the decision. “This will have a devastating and irreversible impact on our ability to bring injured and critically ill children from Gaza to the United States for lifesaving medical treatment,” the group said in a statement.
According to PCRF, the organisation has evacuated 169 children from Gaza in 2024 alone, transferring them for specialised care in the Middle East, Europe, South Africa, and the US. With Gaza’s hospitals battered by two and a half years of war, such evacuations have become a lifeline for children needing urgent care.
The policy shift followed a social media campaign by far-right activist Laura Loomer, who posted a series of messages on X denouncing the humanitarian visa programme and urging the Trump administration to block it. On Saturday, Loomer claimed credit for the suspension and thanked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “temporarily halting the visas.”
The backdrop to the decision is Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis. Since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered a devastating war, much of Gaza’s medical infrastructure has been destroyed.
An Israeli blockade introduced in March 2025 has sharply restricted food deliveries, with Israel insisting the measures are aimed at preventing supplies from being seized by Hamas.
Humanitarian agencies and UN-backed food security organisations, however, warn that the blockade has pushed Gaza into famine conditions. Independent journalists inside the territory have reported on widespread hunger, with major outlets including the BBC, AFP, AP, and Reuters last month warning that reporters themselves were at risk of starvation.
“For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering,” the outlets said in a joint statement.
US President Donald Trump has acknowledged there is “real starvation” in Gaza, but his administration has continued to stand firmly behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For families in Gaza seeking refuge or treatment abroad, the suspension of US visas adds another layer of despair. As one rights group put it: the decision risks “closing one of the last doors of hope” for Gaza’s most vulnerable.
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