Lina Altawell
21 September 2026•Update: 21 September 2026
Hamas on Monday condemned the US refusal to grant visas to a Palestinian delegation seeking to attend UN General Assembly meetings.
“The decision constitutes a flagrant violation of the international conventions and agreements governing the work of the UN headquarters and a continuation of the policy of complete US bias toward the Zionist occupation,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.
The restriction has continued for a second year. In 2025, Washington denied visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials to attend the meetings, forcing Abbas to participate by video link.
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution allowing the State of Palestine to participate in the general debate of its 81st session through a prerecorded address by its president to be shown in the Assembly Hall.
The resolution was backed by 152 countries, opposed by three, with four abstentions.
On Thursday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry rejected Washington’s decision to extend visa restrictions on Palestinian officials over alleged failures to meet commitments toward the US, calling for the measure to be halted and for direct Palestinian-US dialogue to begin.
Under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement between the organization and the US, Washington, as the host country, is required to facilitate access to the UN headquarters in New York for representatives of states and entities participating in UN activities.
Palestine has held the status of a non-member observer state at the UN since 2012.
Of the UN’s 193 member states, 160 recognize the State of Palestine, which is also a member of more than 100 international organizations and treaties, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
Israel and the US oppose such recognition, while Washington has used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block Palestine from obtaining full UN membership instead of its current status.
Since Oct. 8, 2023, Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others in its genocide in Gaza, most of them women and children.
Successive US administrations have provided Israel with military, financial and diplomatic support, including protection from accountability at the UN Security Council through the use of the veto.
In 1948, Israel was established on lands seized by armed Zionist groups that carried out massacres and displaced at least 750,000 Palestinians. Israel later occupied the remaining Palestinian territories and continues to reject withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state as stipulated in UN resolutions.
