State Department halts 'medical-humanitarian' visas for people from Gaza

Rhitu Chatterjee

August 16, 2025 / 12:08 pm

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.

The State Department did not immediately respond to NPR's request for details on how many such visas have been granted in recent months, but its announcement described it as "a small number."

An Ohio-based humanitarian group, HEAL Palestine, is the main American organization helping evacuate people — primarily injured children and family members — a

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