State Division transfer comes as Israel’s warfare and induced-famine in Gaza attain new extremes, with 61,827 killed to this point.
The USA has introduced that it’s halting all customer visas for folks from Gaza pending a “a full and thorough” overview, a day after social media posts about Palestinian refugees sparked livid reactions from right-wingers.
The Division of State’s transfer on Saturday got here a day after far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer posted on X that Palestinians “who declare to be refugees from Gaza” entered the US by way of San Francisco and Houston this month.
“How is permitting for Islamic immigrants to return into the US America First coverage?” she mentioned on X in a later publish, occurring to report additional Palestinian arrivals in Missouri and claiming that “a number of US Senators and members of Congress” had texted her to precise their fury.
Republican lawmakers talking publicly concerning the matter included Chip Roy of Texas, who mentioned he would inquire concerning the matter, and Randy Advantageous of Florida, who described the alleged arrivals as a “nationwide safety threat”.
By Saturday, the State Division introduced it was stopping visas for “people from Gaza” whereas it performed “a full and thorough overview of the method and procedures used to situation a small variety of non permanent medical-humanitarian visas in current days”. It didn’t present a determine.
All customer visas for people from Gaza are being stopped whereas we conduct a full and thorough overview of the method and procedures used to situation a small variety of non permanent medical-humanitarian visas in current days.
— Division of State (@StateDept) August 16, 2025
The US issued 640 visas to holders of the Palestinian Authority journey doc in Might, in response to the Reuters information company. B1/B2 customer visas allow Palestinians to hunt medical remedy within the US.
Loomer greeted Saturday’s State Division announcement with glee.
“It’s superb how briskly we are able to get outcomes from the Trump administration,” she mentioned on Saturday, although she later posted that extra wanted to be executed to “spotlight the disaster of the invasion occurring in our nation”.
Whereas I recognize the State Division and @marcorubio issuing this assertion, I need to press even tougher to focus on the disaster of the invasion occurring in our nation.
The visas and arrivals of GAZANS to US airports isn’t new. This has been drastically rising in pace… https://t.co/mI5APTairz
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 16, 2025
The choice to chop visas comes as Israel intensifies its assaults on Gaza, the place not less than 61,827 folks have been killed up to now 22 months, with the United Nations warning that “widespread hunger, malnutrition and illness” are driving an increase in famine-related deaths.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing to grab Gaza Metropolis as a part of a takeover of the Strip, forcibly displacing a whole bunch of hundreds of Palestinians to focus zones.
