State Department halts humanitarian health visas for sick Gaza children

Source: Scripps News

Posted 4:28 PM, Aug 20, 2025 and last updated 5:33 PM, Aug 20, 2025


Days after several sick and injured children arrived in the U.S. from Gaza for medical treatment, the State Department halted a program that grants visitor visas to people from Gaza.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says multiple congressional offices reached out to the State Department asking how those medical-humanitarian visas came to be granted to the children and the adults accompanying them.

Last week, the nonprofit Heal Palestine brought several children to the U.S. from Gaza for medical treatment in cities like Seattle and Houston. Conservative commentator Laura Loomer called them refugees and a national security threat.

But Secretary Rubio says several congressional offices also provided evidence that they claim shows some of the organizations involved in acquiring these visas have links to Hamas. Over the weekend, Rubio did not elaborate on what that evidence is, nor which organizations are supposedly involved.

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/foreign-policy/state-department-halts-humanitarian-health-visas-for-sick-gaza-children