Heal Palestine slams US for blocking Gaza kids’ lifesaving visas
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A far-right campaign led by Laura Loomer has pushed the Trump administration to suspend medical visas, leaving Gaza’s injured children without care abroad.
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Palestinian children wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are treated in Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, on Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP)
A US aid organization that arranges lifesaving treatment for severely injured children from Gaza has denounced the Trump administration’s suspension of medical visas, calling the decision “distressing” and warning it endangers some of the most vulnerable patients in the territory.
Heal Palestine, which helps transfer young patients to American hospitals when their injuries cannot be treated in Gaza, said the halt undermines a purely humanitarian programme. The suspension was the result of lobbying by Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer who has described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and publicly pressured senior officials to block the initiative.
“This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,” Heal Palestine said in a statement, emphasizing that patients return to the Middle East after completing their care. The organization insisted its work is focused solely on children’s survival and recovery, rejecting Loomer’s inflammatory claims that medical visas amount to “Islamic immigration".
Humanitarian lifeline under attack
The programme has long been considered a lifeline for Palestinian children wounded in brutal Israeli strikes, where advanced prosthetics and trauma care are unavailable. In December, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, founded by Heal Palestine’s Steve Sosebee, helped two-year-old Rahaf Saed, who lost both legs in an Israeli airstrike, travel to St Louis, Missouri, for prosthetics. Rahaf later appeared in a video dancing with children’s entertainer Ms Rachel.
Humanitarian groups stress that Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees in the world, underscoring the consequences of cutting off access to medical care abroad. Aid workers say Loomer’s campaign has weaponized disinformation and prejudice against vulnerable children, with devastating real-world impact.
Far-right pressure and politics
Despite the programme’s humanitarian scope, Republican lawmakers Chip Roy and Randy Fine echoed Loomer’s rhetoric, praising the suspension and framing the visas as a “national security risk.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed “numerous congressional offices” had raised concerns about alleged links to Hamas but provided no evidence.
Loomer, meanwhile, attempted to smear Sosebee by highlighting his work to reopen a Gaza hospital destroyed by “Israel” and attacking him for previously praising Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer. Her statements were amplified online, despite being grounded in Islamophobic rhetoric and conspiracy claims.
Loomer’s campaign has been bolstered by support within the Trump administration, where senior officials, including Rubio, Vice-President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and policy advisor Stephen Miller, follow her on social media.
From online agitation to policy action
The speed of the policy reversal underscored how swiftly online campaigns can shape official decisions under Trump. Republican Congressman Randy Fine openly credited Loomer for the halt, writing, “Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura.”
But medical charities and rights groups painted a darker picture. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which has organized thousands of evacuations for Palestinian children over the past three decades, called the move “dangerous and inhumane.”
“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,” it said.
Historical echo
Criticism also came from Silicon Valley, where Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham drew a stark historical parallel. “If Laura Loomer had been around in 1940, she’d have been trying to prevent Jewish refugees from entering the US,” he wrote. “And if Trump had been president then, she’d have succeeded.”
For Loomer, the episode marks another political win. For the children of Gaza, it represents a devastating loss, one that lays bare the ease with which an extremist’s disinformation can be translated into state policy when it aligns with the administration’s agenda.
