The US State Department has suspended all visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza. The move came hours after Zionist far-right influencer Laura Loomer raged online against the arrival of severely wounded children in U.S. hospitals.
The children traveled to America for life-saving treatment through HEAL Palestine, a U.S.-registered nonprofit that arranges specialized care.
In a statement on Twitter, the State Department said:
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.
Loomer tagged Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the department in several posts, demanding that injured Palestinian children be denied care. She published several racist and anti-Palestinian posts targeting injured children, calling them “Hamas.” She wrote:
We don’t want Gazans imported here. They have doctors in other countries.
HEAL Palestine has worked with American hospitals for years to provide surgeries and long-term treatment for children critically injured in Gaza. The group covers medical costs, housing, and basic needs until recovery.
Dr. Steve Sosebee, founder of HEAL Palestine, told Quds News Network the suspension will cause lasting harm.
“This is very unfortunate, to say the least, because there are tens of thousands of injured children in Gaza who need medical care that’s not available to them there. The United States is one of the few countries that had permitted NGOs like ours to bring kids here for care. Denying these children access to treatment is against all humanitarian and American values,” he said.
Sosebee explained that the organization provides hospitals with sponsorship letters and guarantees that children return to Gaza after recovery. He warned that blocking visas will mean more preventable deaths.
“Denying injured children access to medical care is against all humanitarian and American values. We have traditionally many people that cares for the sick and suffering children of the world, and this decision will result in many more innocent children, dying endlessly”, he said.
The suspension highlights the contradiction in U.S. policy. While it halts medical access for injured children, Washington continues to arm Israel and facilitate more killings in Gaza.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the U.S. provided $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel from October 2023 to October 2024. A Wall Street Journal report in December 2023 revealed that shipments included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells.