US suspends visas for Gaza residents amid refugee entry claims
The suspension comes after far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer claimed on social media on Friday that Palestinian "refugees" had entered the United States this month.After her post, Republican lawmakers criticised the move. US Representative Chip Roy of Texas said he would investigate the matter, while Representative Randy Fine of Florida called the arrivals a "national security risk."GAZA'S HUMANITARIAN CRISIS DEEPENSThe Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the suspension, describing it as the latest example of "intentional cruelty" under the Trump administration.While Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) warned that the decision would prevent critically ill and wounded children from receiving medical care in the United States."This policy will have a devastating and irreversible impact on our ability to bring injured and critically ill children from Gaza to the United States for lifesaving medical treatment -- a mission that has defined our work for more than 30 years," the organisation said in a statement.Despite the ongoing crisis, the US has not announced plans to accept Palestinians displaced by the war. According to Reuters, discussions are underway between South Sudan and Israel regarding a potential resettlement plan for Palestinian refugees.Gaza has been heavily affected by conflict following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.Since then, Israel's military offensive against Hamas in Gaza has reportedly killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.- EndsWith inputs from agencies Must Watch
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Hindustan Times
8 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Putin Returns to Moscow With Air of Triumph After Summit
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—Russian President Vladimir Putin couldn't have scripted his first visit to the U.S. since 2015 much better. The Russian leader strutted along a red carpet at a U.S. air base and posed smiling with President Trump, who had weeks earlier been expressing mounting frustration with him and threatening to hit Russia and its trading partners with sanctions. He met with Trump under a sign that read 'pursuing peace.' When they emerged 3½ hours later, the leaders said they hadn't reached a deal. Instead, Putin used the stage to press his demands on Ukraine. Neither Trump nor Putin, who is facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes, took questions from the U.S. press. Putin, by clinching a long-awaited summit with Trump, scored a win. The Kremlin leader, has staked his legacy on dismantling the post-Cold War world order and resurrecting Russia's great-power status to put it on par with the U.S. 'Putin achieved exactly what he wanted: He simultaneously preserved his relationship with Trump, avoided additional sanctions, and received the blessing to continue his war,' said Andrey Kolesnikov, a Moscow-based political analyst and a columnist at New Times, an independent Russian-language magazine. The summit gave Putin a platform to turn longstanding narratives about the Ukraine war on their head, emphasizing that the U.S. and Russia are neighbors separated at their closest point by just over 2 miles of water. Meanwhile, he has tried to paint Europe and Ukraine as the two biggest obstacles to peace, while stepping up recent attacks on Ukrainian cities. Putin and Trump emerged from talks Friday without having a deal. Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in the days before the summit to understand better their red lines in negotiations with Russia. But the images of the two leaders in Alaska were certainly unsettling on the continent. Trump rolled out a red carpet for Putin on the taxiway of the U.S. air base, applauding as the Kremlin leader approached. After a firm handshake, Trump invited him to ride in his armored limousine to the meeting. 'Putin loves trolling and rubbing Europeans' noses in the fact that there is a strong relationship with Trump,' said Andrew Weiss, who worked on Russian affairs in George H.W. Bush's and Bill Clinton's administrations. Hours after arriving back in Moscow, Putin gathered his top officials inside the Kremlin to tell them the summit had been a resounding success. 'We have not had direct negotiations of this kind at this level for a long time,' he said to an array of officials, including the defense minister, the chief of staff and intelligence chiefs. 'I repeat once again: We had the opportunity to calmly and in detail once again explain our position.' To be sure, Trump said in the days before the summit that he didn't expect any major breakthroughs and said he hoped he could clinch a cease-fire and lay the foundation for a lasting peace process. But in the hours after the summit, previous calls for an immediate cease-fire evaporated. Meanwhile, Trump's own language mirrored that of the Russian side, calling in a post on Truth Social for an overarching peace agreement as opposed to a halt to fighting first. That effectively gives Putin the green light to continue the fighting to capture more land in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are making gains. 'Tonight, the president of our great country showed Trump, the president of another great country, that Russia is a party to be reckoned with,' said Alexander Dugin, a far-right politician and a pro-Putin ideologue. 'Therefore, we cannot be forced to do things that anyone wants, be it the West or Trump.' Putin, who has called the fall of the Soviet Union a geopolitical catastrophe, has been working to resurrect slowly Moscow's sphere of influence in parts of the territory that once encompassed the Soviet Union. Ukraine occupies a special place in Russian history. It is where the founding dynasty of the Russian Empire was formed. He is unlikely to sacrifice his ambition to reclaim Ukraine as a part of Russia to improve relations with Washington. But it would be a coup for the Russian leader if he could accomplish both after years of Western isolation sparked by his invasion. 'Both sides want normalization, which has a very strong business aspect that could unlock some money flows for both countries,' said Elina Ribakova, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Putin seemed to signal as much on Friday when he signed a decree that could offer Exxon Mobil re-entry into the Russian market through a stake in the potentially lucrative Sakhalin-1 oil field, which it pulled out of after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Whether the takeaways from the summit can translate into a sustainable peace process is hard to determine. In a call from Air Force One on his way home from the summit, Trump relayed to the Europeans the outcome of the meeting and that Putin wanted to keep fighting, according to European officials. Trump plans to meet Monday with Zelensky, who wasn't invited to Friday's summit. Analysts said expectations are low that a road to peace can be found in a war that Russia is slowly winning. 'The bubble of inflated expectations has burst, and the process itself has turned into 'Waiting for Godot,'' said Kolesnikov, referring to a play about endless waiting. Write to Thomas Grove at
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First Post
8 minutes ago
- First Post
Israelis rally nationwide demanding end to Gaza war and release of hostages ahead of new offensive
Demonstrators took to the streets across Israel Sunday calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by terrorists, as the military prepares a new offensive. Families and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attacks, hold placards and national flags during a protest calling for government action to secure their release in Jerusalem on August 17, 2025. People staged demonstrations across Israel on Sunday urging an end to the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the release of hostages as the military prepares for a new offensive in the Palestinian territory. The protests follow last week's approval by Israel's security cabinet to capture Gaza City, amid a conflict that has lasted nearly two years and caused significant humanitarian strain. The current war stems from Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel which left 251 people in captivity. Israeli authorities say 49 remain held in Gaza including 27 confirmed dead. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In Tel Aviv, protesters displayed a massive Israeli flag covered with images of the hostages in Hostage Square, a long time rallying point for public demonstrations. Road blockages including the main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, disrupted traffic as tires were set alight. Police reinforced their presence, announcing 32 arrests and warning that disruptions to public order would not be tolerated. Organisers of the protests, along with groups representing hostage families called for a general strike, prompting many businesses in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to close for the day. 'I think it's time to end the war. It's time to release all of the hostages. And it's time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East,' said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorists group Hamas said on Sunday that Israel's plan to relocate residents from Gaza City constitutes a 'new wave of genocide and displacement' for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area. The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel into southern Gaza was a 'blatant deception'. The Israeli military has said it is preparing to provide tents and other equipment starting from Sunday ahead of its plan to relocate residents from combat zones to the south of the enclave 'to ensure their safety'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Hamas said in a statement that the deployment of tents under the guise of humanitarian purposes is a blatant deception intended to 'cover up a brutal crime that the occupation forces prepare to execute'. Israel said earlier this month that it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre. The plan has raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, which is home to about 2.2 million people. The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. About 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are believed to be still alive. Israel's subsequent military assault against Hamas has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced most of Gaza's population and left much of the enclave in ruins. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies
NDTV
19 minutes ago
- NDTV
US Suspends Visas For Gazans Seeking Medical Aid After Far-Right Campaign
The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States. The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job. "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," the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X. In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were "pro-HAMAS... affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar," without providing evidence. Loomer's target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children -- as well as their caregivers and siblings -- arrive safely in the US for medical treatment. It was "the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US," the charity said on its website. 'Dangerous and inhumane' "Truly unacceptable," Loomer wrote in another X post. "Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas." "Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways," she said. Qatar is "literally flooding our country with jihadis," she added. Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were "also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US." Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy. "Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura," Fine wrote on X. The Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to "reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision." Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement. "Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza." Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump. In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later. Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House. "No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!" Loomer posted on X Saturday.
