At a farm in the south suburbs, upbeat Arabic music swept across the land as more than a dozen Palestinian children — many with prosthetic limbs or in wheelchairs — and their families danced and moved to the music in the center of a raised platform.
One of the children, Khalil Abu Shaban, traveled in a circle using his wheelchair and periodically sang into a microphone as the dozens who attended the Saturday celebration at Arab Chicago Farm in Frankfort excitedly clapped for him.
Abu Shaban, 14, arrived in Chicago about a year ago with his mom and sister to receive medical care at Shriners Children’s specialty hospital after losing both his legs in a bombing in Gaza. He said he’s working on getting his final prosthetics and attends physical therapy a few times a week. He’s also preparing to start 9th grade and has enjoyed swimming and fishing while in the United States.
“I’m waiting on my final prosthetic so I can actually practice on that,” Abu Shaban said via an interpreter. “I’m enjoying my time here.”
Organizers said the fundraiser, put on by Ohio-based nonprofit HEAL Palestine, hoped the event could introduce community members to about a dozen children — including Abu Shaban — who, with the group’s help, evacuated the war in Gaza for medical care in the United States. HEAL Palestine coordinates travel for the injured children and their families and assists them in applying for visas to the U.S.
But as Abu Shaban and others in Frankfort enjoyed their day on Saturday, President Donald Trump’s State Department announced that same day it was stopping all visitor visas for people from Gaza, a move that places HEAL Palestine’s work at risk, the group’s executive director Steve Sosebee said. The State Department said it will start conducting a “full and thorough review of the process and procedures” used to issue a “small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas” in recent days.
“It’s a very arbitrary measure that doesn’t take into consideration that these kids are coming for treatments in private hospitals,” Sosebee said, adding it’s now “impossible” to bring more injured kids to the U.S. “They’re not taking government money. We’re not a government-sponsored taxpayer organization, so we’re privately funded.”
“There’s no reason for the government to put this ban. These are just injured children. They’re not political kids. They’re not security threats,” he continued. “They’re just innocent children who need medical care that they can’t get back home. It’s a very unfortunate measure and we hope it’s reversed.”
Groups of people head towards the “HEAL on the Farm” event at the Arab Chicago Farm on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Frankfort. (Vincent D. Johnson/for the Chicago Tribune)
The State Department announcement comes after Laura Loomer, a far-right, pro-Israel government activist and Trump ally known for her racist posts, claimed with no evidence on social media that HEAL Palestine is “mass importing GAZANS into the US under the false claim of ‘humanitarian aid.’” She asked the Trump administration to “shut down this abomination ASAP before a family member of one of these GAZANS goes rogue and kills Americans.”
Loomer celebrated the State Department’s decision Saturday, calling it “fantastic news” and asking the president to add people from Gaza to a travel ban.
The State Department’s move also followed HEAL Palestine’s announcement earlier this month that 11 critically injured children, along with their caregivers and siblings, had arrived in the U.S. HEAL Palestine called it the “largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza” and said some of the children, who will stay in various cities across the country, had lost limbs and all were “severely malnourished.”
Nihad Awad, the national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also condemned the State Department’s move.
“Blocking Palestinian children injured by American weapons from coming to America for medical treatment is the latest sign that the intentional cruelty of President Trump’s ‘Israel First’ administration knows no bounds,” Awad said in a statement.
More than 60,000 people have died in Gaza and a mass humanitarian catastrophe continues, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel.
Sosebee said since the war in Gaza began the organization has evacuated 148 people, including 63 children. Six of the children stayed with host families in the Chicago area. There are 44 children who remain in the U.S., with the rest heading to Egypt to continue receiving treatment, Sosebee said.
“There’s thousands (of children) with all kinds of injuries and medical conditions that can’t be treated in Gaza. The scale is what’s so overwhelming,” Sosebee said. “We hope that we’ll be able to get more kids treated because they deserve it. All of the politics surrounding this issue makes it very difficult.”
Abu Shaban and his family were forced to flee northern Gaza to the south, where he lived in a displacement camp, Sosebee previously said. Abu Shaban was later injured in a bombing near a barber shop he was visiting, and, after medical treatment in Egypt, he came to Chicago to learn to walk again with prosthetics.
Sosebee said Abu Shaban has a high amputation, which makes it difficult to get a prosthetic. He won’t have the kind of mobility other kids have with prosthetic limbs, he said, but they’re “trying to get him the best care possible,” including mental health support. Saturday’s celebration, which also featured food, painting and calligraphy, was aimed at helping Abu Shaban and other kids feel connected to humanity, Sosebee said.
At the event’s art station, Manar Ihmud, a volunteer and director of IQ Tutoring Center in Palos Heights, set up painting, bookmark making, jewelry making and a sticker station — crafts that don’t have loud noises, she said. Kids picked their favorite paint colors and colored with markers.
“Being Palestinian myself, this is a humanity cause,” she said. “This is no longer just a Palestinian cause or just a Middle Eastern cause. This is for everyone.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Originally Published: August 17, 2025 at 11:18 AM CDT