The US revoked visas for the family of the ambassador of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Husam Zomlot, the envoy said in a statement Sunday.
The statement comes as the US closes the office of the organization in Washington amid rapidly deteriorating relations between the Trump administration and Palestinian leadership.
"As if the announcement that the US would close our office in Washington, DC was not enough, this vindictive action by the Trump administration is spiteful," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO executive committee, commented in a statement. "The US has taken its attempts to pressure and blackmail the Palestinians to a new level."
"This goes against diplomatic norms. Children, spouses and family have nothing to do with political rows," Zomlot added, according to Reuters.
The US State Department announced the closure of the PLO office on September 10.
"The Administration has determined after careful review that the office of the General Delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Washington should close," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert announced in a press release at the time.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat condemned the move, calling it a "dangerous escalation which demonstrates the United States' readiness to dismantle the international system in order to defend Israeli crimes."
After US President Donald Trump unilaterally recognized the entire city of Jerusalem as a capital of Israel, Palestinians have boycotted US peace efforts, angering the White House, Reuters reported.
The status of the city of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, is widely believed to be one of the biggest obstacles to any peace agreement between the two nations.
