Trump administration halts medical visas for Gaza patients over ‘security threat’
New York: The Trump administration has paused approvals of visitor visas for individuals from Gaza, blocking a critical channel for patients seeking medical treatment in the United States.
The decision, reported by the International New York Times on Sunday, affects even young children who had recently arrived in the country with serious injuries.
The State Department mentioned that it would assess the process behind those visas. “All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review,” the department said in a statement on the social platform X.
The announcement followed a campaign led by right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who labelled the medical evacuation flights a “national security threat” in a series of posts targeting a nonprofit organisation coordinating the medical evacuations.
“Under the Trump administration, they are actively importing Gazans into the U.S. Clearly, this is not what we voted for,” Loomer said in an interview.
The nonprofit, Ohio-based HEAL Palestine, had earlier described its initiative as the “largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the U.S.”
Since launching the effort, the group says it has facilitated treatment for 63 children, including 11 who were flown this month to hospitals in nine American cities. Many of them, aged between 6 and 15, had lost limbs in the ongoing conflict, added the report.
According to HEAL Palestine, once their treatment is complete, the children are expected to travel via Egypt to reunite with their families.
Co-founder Dr Zeena Salman stressed the urgency of the missions, calling them a matter of survival. “These children could not wait. Their lives are at stake, and this mission is about giving them a future,” she said earlier this month.
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Congress cites Maniben Patel's diary entries, asks Rajnath to apologise for Babri claim
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
