Israel announces West Bank settlement that rights groups say could imperil Palestinian state
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Time Magazine
8 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
State Department Halts Medical Visas For Palestinians
The State Department said it would stop issuing visas to Palestinians from Gaza, including to those coming to the United States for humanitarian and medical treatment, following a campaign by far-right political activist Laura Loomer. '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 U.S. State Department said in a statement on Saturday. The decision will impact several programs that have evacuated dozens of critically injured children from Gaza over the last 21 months, including amputees and severe burn victims. The announcement came just hours after a series of social media posts from Loomer criticizing the medical evacuations of Palestinian children to the U.S. In one post, she shared a video of a child amputee arriving in a wheelchair at Seattle airport for medical treatment, adding: 'The Trump administration needs to shut this abomination down ASAP.' Loomer, who once described herself as a 'proud Islamaphobe' and said 9/11 was an 'inside job,' made false claims in her posts and said she had sent her 'evidence' to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Hours later, the pause was announced. Rubio told "Face the Nation" on CBS on Sunday that the action came after "outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it." But Loomer quickly took credit for the pause, posting: 'It's amazing how fast we can get results from the Trump administration.' The Palestinian Children Relief Fund (PCRF), a charity that organizes medical evacuations of children to the U.S., said the move will prevent them from providing 'lifesaving medical treatment' for 'critically ill children' from Gaza. '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,' the PCRF said in a statement. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Gaza's health system has been in collapse, and there has been a 'relentless and systematic decimation of hospitals in Gaza.' The United Nations children's charity, UNICEF, said in July that more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured in Gaza in the last 21 months. HEAL Palestine, another charity that organizes evacuations and which was specifically targeted by Loomer in her posts, said this month it has evacuated 63 injured children and 148 total evacuees to the U.S. to receive treatment. Earlier this month, it carried out the largest known evacuation of wounded children from Gaza to the U.S., which included 11 children and their families, most of them for treatment of amputations. HEAL Palestine made it clear on social media that the visas it uses to bring people to the U.S. for treatment were not for resettlement, but for lifesaving care, contrary to Loomer's claims. 'After their treatment is complete, the children and any accompanying family members return to the Middle East. This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,' HEAL Palestine said Saturday. The charity added that U.S. tax dollars do not fund the treatment provided to these children. Loomer, a conspiracy theorist with a history of using hate speech to gain attention, has acquired an outsized influence over the White House in President Donald Trump's second term. She has successfully lobbied to remove people from top government roles whom she considers disloyal to the president, including six from the National Security Council, a senior Customs and Border Protection official, and a Food and Drug Administration vaccine official. TIME has contacted the State Department for comment.
San Francisco Chronicle
37 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump administration halts visas for people from Gaza after Laura Loomer questions arrivals
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review. The State Department said Saturday the visas would be stopped while it looks into how 'a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas' were issued in recent days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday told 'Face the Nation' on CBS that the action came after 'outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it." Rubio said there were 'just a small number' of the visas issued to children in need of medical aid but that they were accompanied by adults. The congressional offices reached out with evidence that 'some of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,' he asserted, without providing evidence or naming those organizations. As a result, he said, 'we are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship, if any, has there been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas.' Loomer on Friday posted videos on X of children from Gaza arriving earlier this month in San Francisco and Houston for medical treatment with the aid of an organization called HEAL Palestine. 'Despite the US saying we are not accepting Palestinian 'refugees' into the United States under the Trump administration,' these people from Gaza were able to travel to the U.S., she said. She called it a 'national security threat' and asked who signed off on the visas, calling for the person to be fired. She tagged Rubio, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Trump has downplayed Loomer's influence on his administration, but several officials swiftly left or were removed shortly after she publicly criticized them. The State Department on Sunday declined to comment on how many of the visas had been granted and whether the decision to halt visas to people from Gaza had anything to do with Loomer's posts. HEAL Palestine said in a statement Sunday that it was 'distressed' by the State Department decision to stop halt visitor visas from Gaza. The group said it is 'an American humanitarian nonprofit organization delivering urgent aid and medical care to children in Palestine." A post on the organization's Facebook page Thursday shows a photo of a boy from Gaza leaving Egypt and headed to St. Louis for treatment and said he is 'our 15th evacuated child arriving in the U.S. in the last two weeks.' The organization brings 'severely injured children" to the U.S. on temporary visas for treatment they can't get at home, the statement said. Following treatment, the children and any family members who accompanied them return to the Middle East, the statement said. 'This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,' it said. The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for more medical evacuations from Gaza, where Israel's over 22-month war against Hamas has heavily destroyed or damaged much of the territory's health system. 'More than 14,800 patients still need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday on social media, and called on more countries to offer support. A WHO description of the medical evacuation process from Gaza published last year explained that the WHO submits lists of patients to Israeli authorities for security clearance. It noted that before the war in Gaza began, 50 to 100 patients were leaving Gaza daily for medical treatment, and it called for a higher rate of approvals from Israeli authorities. The U.N. and partners say medicines and even basic health care supplies are low in Gaza after Israel cut off all aid to the territory of over 2 million people for more than 10 weeks earlier this year.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Israel's growing frustration over the war in Gaza erupts in nationwide protests
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police made dozens of arrests on Sunday as tens of thousands of protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in Gaza aimed to shut down the country in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Groups representing families of hostages organized the demonstrations, and gave an even larger estimate of attendees, as frustration grows in Israel over plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas. Many Israelis fear that could further endanger the remaining hostages. Twenty of the 50 who remain are believed to be alive. 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages,' protesters chanted. Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting. Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. Police said they arrested 38 people. 'The only way to bring (hostages) back is through a deal, all at once, without games,' former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv. Her boyfriend Ariel Cunio is still held by Hamas. One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions for Palestinian civilians after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths. Netanyahu opposes any deal that leaves Hamas in power An end to the war does not seem near. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is balancing competing pressures including the potential for mutiny within his coalition. 'Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas' position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated,' Netanyahu said, referencing the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and sparked the war. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages earlier this year, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the demonstrations 'a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.' The new offensive would require the call-up of thousands of reservists, another concern for many Israelis. Another 17 aid-seekers killed in Gaza Hospitals and witnesses in Gaza said Israeli forces killed at least 17 aid-seekers on Sunday, including nine awaiting U.N. aid trucks close to the Morag corridor. Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor awaiting a convoy when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds, then from tanks hundreds of meters (yards) away. He saw two people with gunshot wounds. 'It's either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation,' he said. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the Israeli-backed and U.S.-supported distribution points that have become the main source of aid since they opened in May, said there was no gunfire 'at or near' its sites, which are located in military-controlled areas. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions. Israel's air and ground war has displaced most of Gaza's population and killed more than 61,900 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. Two children and five adults died of malnutrition-related causes Sunday, according to the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. The United Nations has warned that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Most aid has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after ending a ceasefire. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. Fears of the coming military offensive It is not clear when Israel's military will begin the new offensive in the crowded Gaza City, Muwasi and what Netanyahu has called the 'central camps' of Gaza. The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, this weekend noted plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones to southern Gaza 'for their protection.' Designated 'safe zones,' however, also have been bombed during the war. War-weary Palestinians on Sunday insisted that they won't leave, arguing that there is 'no safe place' in Gaza. 'There are no humanitarian zones at all,' said Raghda Abu Dhaher, who said she has been displaced 10 times during the war and now shelters in a school in western Gaza City. Mohamed Ahmed also insisted that he won't move south. 'Here is bombing and there is bombing,' he said. Airstrike on power plant in Yemen Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital Sunday, escalating strikes on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who since the war in Gaza began have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah Television said the strikes targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service. Israel's military said the strikes were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel. While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen. Its military later Sunday said it had intercepted another, and the Houthis claimed they had targeted Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. ___ Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel and Magdy from Cairo. Sam Mednick contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
