> An Ohio-based humanitarian group, HEAL Palestine, is the main American organization helping evacuate people — primarily injured children and family members — and bringing them to several cities in the U.S. for medical treatment. According to the organization's website, it has evacuated 148 people from Gaza, including 63 children.
Are there similar organizations operating in other countries?
williamscales · 1h ago
The WHO is organizing some evacuations internationally
> the World Health Organization supported the transfer of 32 children and six adults to Italy, Belgium and Turkey, but more than 14,800 patients are still waiting.
I didn't expect the article to conclude with a pg quote from twitter. Why did they think pg was a notable authority on the matter of human rights? I am not asking in snark, just curious.
seadan83 · 1h ago
It's an example of notable criticism. The campaign was on twitter, so the PG quote is context and as an example of what detractors are saying.
nojs · 1h ago
Writing a summary of twitter hot takes is easier than doing actual research.
BallsInIt · 2h ago
To prevent the story from getting flagged on HN.
AbuAssar · 1h ago
This is confusing to say the least, the US are providing Israel with heavy hardware and ammunition to kill the Palestinian civilians, and then they want to take the children victims for medical care?!
Why the US plays on both sides?
dathinab · 1h ago
because
- it's about civilians and at least the official stance is that the US helps Israel to fight terrorist, not civilians.
- a government isn't a single person
- this doesn't just involves the US government but also humanitarian help groups
wat10000 · 1h ago
“The US” is not providing medical care for the victims. A private charity is. The role of the US government is in allowing, or now denying, the recipients to enter the country to receive care.
mc32 · 1h ago
Question is, are there not medical facilities within a 500 mile radius who would be willing to take these patients in, if not, why aren’t they taking them in?
Like why fly people 5,000+ knots instead of 500? The EMEA region has hospitals and physicians just as good as those in other continents.
UncleMeat · 28m ago
Because there are people in the US who are willing to give them medical aid for free. They would travel here, receive medical care, and then leave.
"Well, there are other charities elsewhere in the world" is a horrible reason to prevent a charitable organization from doing good for people.
The hospitals in area were targetted by bombings. So were journalists and NGO.
mc32 · 52m ago
I somehow doubt Cairo, Damascus or Baghdad would get targeted. Or, we could go to 1,000NM and include Athens and Istanbul and Kuwait.
When our own Armed forces folks need hospital care, we take them to DE or IT. we don't fly them all the way to the US when there are facilities that can treat them closer to where they were injured.
s5300 · 1h ago
>> This is confusing to say the least, the US are providing Israel with heavy hardware and ammunition to kill the Palestinian civilians, and then they want to take the children victims for medical care?!
Why the US plays on both sides?
The US taxpayer has always paid for Israel’s citizens healthcare, while US citizens go without healthcare and ration their necessary medicine. Makes you wonder how such leverage can exist.
apical_dendrite · 1h ago
> The US taxpayer has always paid for Israel’s citizens healthcare
What is your source for this claim?
Most US military aid to Israel goes to US defense contractors. The US hasn't provided any significant economic aid to Israel in decades.
Cyph0n · 1h ago
Because the $1 saved on a missile can be spent elsewhere?
siliconc0w · 1h ago
Dollars are fungible
dlubarov · 1h ago
By this logic, the US is funding X at 173 countries, where X is anything governments spend money on (healthcare, soup kitchens, cocktail parties?)
jkaplowitz · 48m ago
Your rhetorical question is more true than you may realize: The high levels of US military spending is indeed a major reason why so many countries in (for example) Europe have been able to afford their robust social welfare systems instead of having to spend more of their budget on defense than they traditionally have.
A lot of articles discussing the consequences of the Trump administration’s pressure on other NATO countries to spend more of their GDP on defense and its public hesitation to protect Europe militarily have discussed how some of European governments’ nonmilitary expenses may have to be reduced as a result.
MentatOnMelange · 1h ago
Since the US has shuttered USAID which distrubutes food for humanitarian reasons, and made massive cuts to domestic healthcare program, this is indeed the logic of the current administration
apical_dendrite · 1h ago
They aren't really dollars, so much as in-kind aid. The US pays Raytheon to manufacture interceptors in the US and then send them to Israel. So it's fungible in the sense that without US military aid, Israel would have to figure out how to pay for missile defense and other military needs. And maybe that involves less domestic spending on healthcare and maybe it involves making deals with other countries or making foreign or military policy changes. Maybe it leads to positive changes like peace deals, but maybe it leads to negative changes, like Israel switching its allegiance to countries that aren't as friendly to US interests.
Ultimately, the person I'm replying to is giving a false impression of what the US is doing.
cwmoore · 1h ago
Does Egypt have a border with Gaza?
Cyph0n · 1h ago
Yes. That is how these patients were being evacuated in the first place before traveling to the US for treatment.
next_xibalba · 1h ago
Why not treat them in Egypt?
UncleMeat · 27m ago
Because there is a charitable organization offering to treat them for free in the US. Is there something wrong with doing good?
next_xibalba · 1h ago
Are Jordan, Saudi Arabia, all of Europe, etc closer to Gaza than the U.S.?
NomDePlum · 2h ago
Full title: US state department stops issuing visas for Gaza’s children to get medical care after far-right campaign
artninja1988 · 2h ago
They have a point in that Israel should be forced to take care of those children, also to stop the genocide. Taking in displaced only serves Israels interests
nemomarx · 2h ago
Since Israel is not going to do either, and the US is not going to try and make them, I think we should at least save the lives we can. Imagine asking Germany in the 40s to take better care of Jewish children to turn away refugees, right?
No comments yet
DSingularity · 1h ago
Hard agree. I am highly sympathetic to the numerous tragedies that have afflicted the modern Palestinians. They have only knowing suffering at the hands of overwhelming adversaries from the British colonial rule to the rule of western armed Eastern European terrorist gangs.
That being said if we take in Palestinians we are effectively advancing the self proclaimed objective of the Israeli government: ethnic cleansing. The west should not take them in and the west should instead sanction Israel to the point of crippling their economy. Only then will the Israelis stop the abuse.
apical_dendrite · 1h ago
In this case, we're talking about a small number of people who need specialized medical treatment. Denying medical care for people who need it based on some principle is inhumane.
wat10000 · 1h ago
These are visitor visas. We’re not “taking in” the recipients.
alephnerd · 1h ago
> western armed Eastern European terrorist gangs
The majority of Israelis (45%) are Mizrahi or Eastern Sephardi [0] - primarily Moroccan, Iraqi, Yemeni, Syrian, Algerian, Iranian, Kurdish, Azeri, Tajik, and Egyptian in origin. The rest are Arab (20%) or Ashkenazi (33%) but these are overwhelmingly Soviet-era Jews who faced antisemitism during the Soviet era. You also have 1% who are Ethiopian in origin and 1% who are Indian (primarily Marathi) in origin.
The most rightwing Israelis are themselves 1.5 generation Mizrahi, such as Ben Gvir (Kurdish) and Karhi (Tunisian).
The same way Palestinians made homeless due to the 1948 war continue to resent Israel, similarly Mizrahi families continue to resent and distrust the Muslim countries their parents and grandparents were forced to leave from their mohallas.
Assuming Israel is overwhelmingly Ashkenazi is itself white normative and neocolonialist in nature.
> colonial rule
Same for plenty of Jews in Eastern countries.
For example, the Farhud [1] in Iraq as Iraqi Sunnis viewed Iraqi Jews as collaborationists with the British (this was also caused by Nazi propaganda during WW2) and the 1945 Libyan Riots [2] instigated by British occupation forces to coopt Libyan Sunnis.
Now do Christians in the Middle East--they have been practically exterminated out of existence everywhere.
alephnerd · 1h ago
The population has decreased significantly due to religious fanatics, but you should also give credit where credit is due.
Sisi has protected the Coptic community and Lebanon continues to have an active and prominent Christian community (which is split 50-50 between supporting Saudi and supporting Iran)
Morocco has also continued to protect the Jewish community there due to clan, tribal, and Berber ties trumping Arab or religious ties.
apical_dendrite · 1h ago
This is a huge aspect of the conflict that the left doesn't want to understand, because it doesn't fit the narrative of colonialism.
init2null · 1h ago
And it doesn't fit with the conservative Christian view of the nation consisting purely of those that fled Germany. The truth is simply more complicated than either extreme is comfortable with.
That being said, the ancestry and the history doesn't change the actions being committed today.
apical_dendrite · 1h ago
I don't think it changes the facts about what is happening, but I do think it changes how we think about the roots of the conflict, and about how (if) it gets resolved in the long term.
alephnerd · 1h ago
> That being said, the ancestry and the history doesn't change the actions being committed today
Yep. But it adds nuance, which has been lost in discourse.
This is fundamentally an Eastern conflict that can only be resolved by Mizrahis and Arabs.
Westerners converting Israel-Palestine into a culture war are doing more harm than good, because it breeds resentment from both sides, as both view the West as the lackey of the other.
alephnerd · 1h ago
This framing is an American culture war topic that has morphed into a global culture war.
In most Western countries (except France), the Jewish community is overwhelmingly Ashkenazi in origin, and that is what sets the tone for how these countries view the conflict.
Mizrahi Jews have significantly different practices, and Israel is fundamentally their state, as Mizrahi culture has become the default culture in Israel. Even pop Hebrew music is overwhelmingly Arab in musical style now (eg. Daniel Saadon) and Arabic, Farsi, and other Mizrahi languages terms have become a major part of colloquial Hebrew now (יאללה anyone).
IMO, I think Israel becoming culturally Mizrahi is what is causing Israel to lose it's clout. Israeli and (non-religious) American Jews are increasingly separated from each other as they consume different media, speak different languages, and don't even go to the same Synagogues (or Temples as Ashkenazim call them). Israel has become much more insular as it has also become a richer country (it's not like 30 years ago when Israelis had to immigrate to the US to get paid a real salary).
pvaldes · 1h ago
Just for context, because sometimes we need to remind basic facts.
The Geneva Conventions are international laws that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war since 1864. They extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners, civilians and military personnel.
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war. War crimes include shooting on disarmed civilians, denying medical treatment, food or water to captive wounded soldiers from the enemy, or deliberately starving people to death.
Israel MUST provide reasonable medical care to civilians wounded by its army, because this is required by the international laws and treaties signed previously by Israel.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/16/nx-s1-5504634/state-departmen...
Are there similar organizations operating in other countries?
> the World Health Organization supported the transfer of 32 children and six adults to Italy, Belgium and Turkey, but more than 14,800 patients are still waiting.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/16/malnourished-p...
Why the US plays on both sides?
- it's about civilians and at least the official stance is that the US helps Israel to fight terrorist, not civilians.
- a government isn't a single person
- this doesn't just involves the US government but also humanitarian help groups
Like why fly people 5,000+ knots instead of 500? The EMEA region has hospitals and physicians just as good as those in other continents.
"Well, there are other charities elsewhere in the world" is a horrible reason to prevent a charitable organization from doing good for people.
When our own Armed forces folks need hospital care, we take them to DE or IT. we don't fly them all the way to the US when there are facilities that can treat them closer to where they were injured.
The US taxpayer has always paid for Israel’s citizens healthcare, while US citizens go without healthcare and ration their necessary medicine. Makes you wonder how such leverage can exist.
What is your source for this claim?
Most US military aid to Israel goes to US defense contractors. The US hasn't provided any significant economic aid to Israel in decades.
A lot of articles discussing the consequences of the Trump administration’s pressure on other NATO countries to spend more of their GDP on defense and its public hesitation to protect Europe militarily have discussed how some of European governments’ nonmilitary expenses may have to be reduced as a result.
Ultimately, the person I'm replying to is giving a false impression of what the US is doing.
No comments yet
That being said if we take in Palestinians we are effectively advancing the self proclaimed objective of the Israeli government: ethnic cleansing. The west should not take them in and the west should instead sanction Israel to the point of crippling their economy. Only then will the Israelis stop the abuse.
The majority of Israelis (45%) are Mizrahi or Eastern Sephardi [0] - primarily Moroccan, Iraqi, Yemeni, Syrian, Algerian, Iranian, Kurdish, Azeri, Tajik, and Egyptian in origin. The rest are Arab (20%) or Ashkenazi (33%) but these are overwhelmingly Soviet-era Jews who faced antisemitism during the Soviet era. You also have 1% who are Ethiopian in origin and 1% who are Indian (primarily Marathi) in origin.
The most rightwing Israelis are themselves 1.5 generation Mizrahi, such as Ben Gvir (Kurdish) and Karhi (Tunisian).
The same way Palestinians made homeless due to the 1948 war continue to resent Israel, similarly Mizrahi families continue to resent and distrust the Muslim countries their parents and grandparents were forced to leave from their mohallas.
Assuming Israel is overwhelmingly Ashkenazi is itself white normative and neocolonialist in nature.
> colonial rule
Same for plenty of Jews in Eastern countries.
For example, the Farhud [1] in Iraq as Iraqi Sunnis viewed Iraqi Jews as collaborationists with the British (this was also caused by Nazi propaganda during WW2) and the 1945 Libyan Riots [2] instigated by British occupation forces to coopt Libyan Sunnis.
[0] - https://people.socsci.tau.ac.il/mu/noah/files/2018/07/Ethnic...
[1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhud
[2] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_anti-Jewish_riots_in_Tr...
Sisi has protected the Coptic community and Lebanon continues to have an active and prominent Christian community (which is split 50-50 between supporting Saudi and supporting Iran)
Morocco has also continued to protect the Jewish community there due to clan, tribal, and Berber ties trumping Arab or religious ties.
That being said, the ancestry and the history doesn't change the actions being committed today.
Yep. But it adds nuance, which has been lost in discourse.
This is fundamentally an Eastern conflict that can only be resolved by Mizrahis and Arabs.
Westerners converting Israel-Palestine into a culture war are doing more harm than good, because it breeds resentment from both sides, as both view the West as the lackey of the other.
In most Western countries (except France), the Jewish community is overwhelmingly Ashkenazi in origin, and that is what sets the tone for how these countries view the conflict.
Mizrahi Jews have significantly different practices, and Israel is fundamentally their state, as Mizrahi culture has become the default culture in Israel. Even pop Hebrew music is overwhelmingly Arab in musical style now (eg. Daniel Saadon) and Arabic, Farsi, and other Mizrahi languages terms have become a major part of colloquial Hebrew now (יאללה anyone).
IMO, I think Israel becoming culturally Mizrahi is what is causing Israel to lose it's clout. Israeli and (non-religious) American Jews are increasingly separated from each other as they consume different media, speak different languages, and don't even go to the same Synagogues (or Temples as Ashkenazim call them). Israel has become much more insular as it has also become a richer country (it's not like 30 years ago when Israelis had to immigrate to the US to get paid a real salary).
The Geneva Conventions are international laws that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war since 1864. They extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners, civilians and military personnel.
A war crime is a violation of the laws of war. War crimes include shooting on disarmed civilians, denying medical treatment, food or water to captive wounded soldiers from the enemy, or deliberately starving people to death.
Israel MUST provide reasonable medical care to civilians wounded by its army, because this is required by the international laws and treaties signed previously by Israel.