Washington — The Trump administration’s suspension of visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza has ignited fierce condemnation from humanitarian organizations, who warn that the decision will directly cost the lives of children wounded by Israel’s relentless bombardments. For rights advocates, the move is not just cruel, it is evidence of Washington’s complicity in Israel’s policy of collective punishment.
The freeze affects the B1/B2 visitor visa program, a critical humanitarian channel that allowed Palestinians, mostly children, to leave Gaza temporarily for urgent medical treatment. In the first half of 2025 alone, 3,800 visas were issued to Palestinians holding Palestinian Authority documents, with 640 granted in May, according to State Department data. HEAL Palestine, a US-based charity that coordinates the program, said the majority of recipients were children with war injuries, cancer, or life-threatening conditions for which treatment is unavailable in Gaza.
Now, those same children are effectively condemned to remain trapped inside Gaza’s devastated health system. More than 70 percent of hospitals and clinics in Gaza have been destroyed or rendered inoperable by Israeli airstrikes, according to the World Health Organization. The health ministry in Gaza reports that thousands of children remain on waiting lists for critical surgeries, with many requiring amputations, skin grafts, or advanced oncology care. Without outside treatment, doctors warn, mortality will rise sharply in the coming weeks.
The suspension followed a campaign by far-right commentator Laura Loomer, who falsely alleged that Palestinians arriving under the program were being secretly resettled in the US. Instead of dismissing her conspiracy theory, the State Department chose to capitulate, halting the program “pending review.” Officials, echoing Israeli-aligned voices in Congress, claimed concerns over “extremist links” but offered no evidence. Senator Marco Rubio openly confirmed the review, parroting the narrative that wounded Gaza children posed a supposed “security threat.”
For many rights advocates, the justification is nothing short of obscene. “This is how the US treats Palestinian children: Israel bombs them, and Washington refuses to let them seek treatment,” said a representative from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It is coordinated dehumanization.”
HEAL Palestine stressed that the visas are not resettlement visas, but short-term entry permits fully funded by private donors, designed solely for lifesaving medical care. The charity warned that halting the program effectively weaponizes healthcare against children. “We are talking about kids with cancer, kids with amputations, kids who have lost their families in airstrikes,” a spokesperson said. “Denying them treatment is a death sentence.”
The decision fits a wider pattern. For months, Israel has obstructed medical evacuations, blocking ambulances at checkpoints and bombing aid convoys. Reports from Gaza show children dying from treatable infections and malnutrition as a direct result of Israel’s siege, with international agencies calling the crisis one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. Washington’s visa suspension adds another layer to the blockade, denying survivors even the possibility of escape.
The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund accused the Trump administration of bowing to Israel’s lobby instead of defending humanitarian values. “The US has abandoned every pretense of neutrality,” one statement read. “This policy aligns directly with Israel’s genocidal campaign to erase Palestinians from Gaza.”
Humanitarian law experts have pointed out that blocking access to medical treatment for civilians, especially children, may constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Yet, as in previous cases, Washington shows little concern for international law when Israeli interests are involved.
The consequences for families are devastating. Parents in Gaza describe watching their children suffer while knowing that treatment exists abroad but is now barred by political games in Washington. “It is unbearable,” said one father whose daughter has leukemia. “They are killing her twice: first with bombs, then with bureaucracy.”
According to Reuters, HEAL Palestine warned that halting visitor visas would “harm wounded kids” and eliminate their last chance at survival, underscoring how the Trump administration is willing to sacrifice Palestinian lives to score points with Israel and far-right activists.
Israel’s military attacks on Gaza have gone far beyond any military justification, amounting to what humanitarian experts describe as a deliberate genocide of Palestinians. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, with the UN estimating that over 70 percent of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed. Schools, hospitals, and refugee shelters have not been spared—Israeli missiles have struck UNRWA facilities where families sought refuge, maternity wards where newborns were delivered, and water plants that sustained basic survival. International aid agencies confirm that hundreds of trucks carrying food and medicine remain blocked at crossings, while children waste away from hunger and treatable infections. This enforced starvation, paired with relentless bombardment, exposes Israel’s tactics as extermination rather than warfare.
The brutality is compounded by silence and complicity. Western media outlets, instead of amplifying the reality of Gaza’s mass graves, starving children, and collapsing hospitals, largely echo Israeli government narratives, erasing Palestinian suffering. Meanwhile, Washington and European capitals continue to arm Israel, with the US approving shipments of precision-guided bombs and artillery that are repeatedly deployed against civilian infrastructure. The outcome is a siege that obliterates every element of civilian life—healthcare, education, electricity, food, and water. By shielding Israel with weapons, diplomatic cover, and media spin, the West ensures that this genocide proceeds unchecked, targeting not combatants but the very existence of the Palestinian people.
