Washington DC - The Trump administration has suspended visitor visa approvals for almost all Palestinian passport holders.

US officials told the New York Times that the State Department will prevent the extension of US visas to many Palestinians seeking medical treatment, pursuing higher education, visiting friends or relatives, and conducting business.

The new restrictions go beyond a prior halt on visitor visas for Palestinians in Gaza to include many in the illegally occupied West Bank and the diaspora as well.

"Effective immediately, consular officers are instructed to refuse under 221(g) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA) all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders using that passport to apply for a nonimmigrant visa," read an August 18 State Department cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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The new policy reportedly does not apply to immigrant visas or to Palestinians applying for a nonimmigrant visas with another passport.

The Trump administration has revoked and denied visas to Palestinian officials to prevent them from attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month, where France, Canada, and other countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state.

Through successive administrations, the US has remained Israel's primary backer as it wages what a growing number of human rights experts and organizations deem is a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.