The State Department confirmed on Saturday that all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are on hold while it conducts “a full and thorough” review. Officials said only “a small number” of temporary medical-humanitarian visas had been issued in recent days but declined to give figures.
According to monthly department data, the U.S. issued more than 3,800 B1/B2 visitor visas to holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents so far in 2025, including 640 in May. The documents are provided to residents of the West Bank and Gaza, though the statistics do not separate the territories.
The freeze followed claims by far-right activist Laura Loomer, an ally of President Donald Trump, who said on social media that Palestinian “refugees” had entered the U.S. this month. Her remarks prompted Republican lawmakers, including Representative Chip Roy of Texas and Representative Randy Fine of Florida, to call for inquiries, with Fine labelling the issue a “national security risk.”
Pro-Palestine groups have strongly criticised the suspension. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it reflected the “intentional cruelty” of the Trump administration. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund warned that the decision would block access to vital medical treatment for children in Gaza.
“This policy 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—a mission that has defined our work for more than 30 years,” the charity said.
Gaza remains in humanitarian crisis following the conflict that erupted on 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has since killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, local health officials report.
The U.S. has not offered to host Palestinians displaced by the fighting, though sources told Reuters that Israel and South Sudan are in discussions on possible resettlement plans.
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Türkiye has appointed a former head of its disaster management agency to oversee its aid efforts in Gaza, a Foreign Ministry source said....
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is facing its first lawsuits in the United Kingdom over claims that its talc-based products cause cancer, as it continues to b...
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday, winning crucial backing from the Socialist Party....
Thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi's international airport on Thursday, interrupting a ceremony for the body of veteran opposition leader R...
Chinese state media on Thursday issued a seven-point rebuttal to U.S. calls for Beijing to wind back its rare earth controls, as both sides struggle to move beyond a volley of barbs and accusations of blindsiding the other.
Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt is set to reopen for Palestinian movement, though no date has been announced as tensions flare and both sides accuse each other of breaching the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Israel said on Thursday.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss a potential landmark economic deal between Hungary and the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to stop buying oil from Russia, and Trump said he would next try to get China to do the same as Washington intensifies efforts to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
Britain stepped up its sanction regime on Russia, targeting its two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, along with 44 tankers from the so-called “shadow fleet” in an effort to choke Kremlin revenue funding the war in Ukraine.
Türkiye has appointed a former head of its disaster management agency to oversee its aid efforts in Gaza, a Foreign Ministry source said.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday, winning crucial backing from the Socialist Party.
Thousands of mourners briefly stormed Nairobi's international airport on Thursday, interrupting a ceremony for the body of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, with crowds also flooding nearby roads and trying to breach parliament.
Renewed border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have left at least 18 people dead and more than 360 injured, the United Nations has reported, amid growing calls for an urgent ceasefire to protect civilians.
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