State Department move comes as Israelโs war and induced-famine in Gaza reach new extremes, with 61,827 killed so far.
The United States has announced that it is halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a โa full and thoroughโ review, a day after social media posts about Palestinian refugees sparked furious reactions from right-wingers.
The Department of Stateโs move on Saturday came a day after far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer posted on X that Palestinians โwho claim to be refugees from Gazaโ entered the US via San Francisco and Houston this month.
โHow is allowing for Islamic immigrants to come into the US America First policy?โ she said on X in a later post, going on to report further Palestinian arrivals in Missouri and claiming that โseveral US Senators and members of Congressโ had texted her to express their fury.
Republican lawmakers speaking publicly about the matter included Chip Roy of Texas, who said he would inquire about the matter, and Randy Fine of Florida, who described the alleged arrivals as a โnational security riskโ.
By Saturday, the State Department announced it was stopping visas for โindividuals from Gazaโ while it conducted โa full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent daysโ. It did not provide a figure.
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.
โ Department of State (@StateDept) August 16, 2025
The US issued 640 visas to holders of the Palestinian Authority travel document in May, according to the Reuters news agency. B1/B2 visitor visas permit Palestinians to seek medical treatment in the US.
Loomer greeted Saturdayโs State Department announcement with glee.
โItโs amazing how fast we can get results from the Trump administration,โ she said on Saturday, though she later posted that more needed to be done to โhighlight the crisis of the invasion happening in our countryโ.
While I appreciate the State Department and @marcorubio issuing this statement, I want to press even harder to highlight the crisis of the invasion happening in our country.
The visas and arrivals of GAZANS to US airports isnโt new. This has been drastically increasing in speedโฆ https://t.co/mI5APTairz
โ Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 16, 2025
The decision to cut visas comes as Israel intensifies its attacks on Gaza, where at least 61,827 people have been killed in the past 22 months, with the United Nations warning that โwidespread starvation, malnutrition and diseaseโ are driving a rise in famine-related deaths.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing to seize Gaza City as part of a takeover of the Strip, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to concentration zones.
