State Department halts ‘medical-humanitarian’ visas for people from Gaza

['Rhitu Chatterjee', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] TPR: The Public's Radio 2025-08-16 19:08:10

A group of people gather to greet two severely wounded Palestinian teenagers from Gaza arriving at Dulles International Airport near Washington for urgent medical treatment on Aug. 9, 2025. (Mehmet Eser | Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)The U.S. State Department said Saturday that it’s stopping all visitor visas for people from Gaza. The department made the announcement on the social media platform X, saying that it’s halting these visas to conduct “a full and thorough review of the process and procedures” used for granting “medical-humanitarian” visas. A nonprofit will carry out the largest evacuation of children from Gaza to the U.S. It is unclear how long it will take the State Department to conduct its review of the process for medical-humanitarian visas for individuals from Gaza.