WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Saturday said it was halting all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza while it conducts “a full and thorough” review.

The department said “a small number” of temporary medical-humanitarian visas had been issued in recent days but did not provide a figure.

The US issued more than 3,800 B1/B2 visitor visas, which permit foreigners to seek medical treatment in the United States, to holders of the Palestinian Authority travel document, according to an analysis of monthly figures provided on the department’s website. That figure includes 640 visas issued in May.

The State Department’s move to stop visitor visas for people from Gaza comes after Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and an ally of President Donald Trump, said on social media on Friday that the Palestinian “refugees” had entered the US this month.

Young woman flown to Italy for treatment passes away

Loomer’s statement sparked outrage among some Republicans, with US Representative Chip Roy, of Texas, saying he would inquire about the matter and Representative Randy Fine, of Florida, describing it as a “national security risk”.

The US has not indicated that it would accept Palestinians displaced by the war. However, sources said that South Sudan and Israel are discussing a plan to resettle Palestinians.

Gaza woman dies in Italy

A young Palestinian woman with severe wasting who was flown from Gaza to Italy this week for treatment has died, the hospital said on Saturday.

The 20-year-old, named by Italian media as Marah Abu Zuhri, arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight overnight Wednesday-Thursday.

She had a “very complex clinical picture” and was “in a profound state of organic wasting”, the University Hospital of Pisa said in a statement.

On Friday, after undergoing tests and starting treatment, she had a sudden respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest, and died.

The hospital did not elaborate on her condition, but Italian news agencies reported that she was suffering from severe malnutrition.

Humanitarian groups, UN agencies and Hamas have warned of the risk of widespread famine in war-battered Gaza.

The young woman had come to Italy with her mother on one of three Italian air force flights that arrived this week with a total of 31 patients and their companions. They all suffered from serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations, the Italian foreign ministry said at the time.

So far more than 180 children and young people from Gaza have been brought to Italy since the war began between Israel and Hamas.

The head of the Tuscany region, Eugenio Giani, offered his condolences to the young woman’s family.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2025