South Africa has permitted over 150 Palestinian airline passengers to disembark after they were detained on the aircraft for nearly 12 hours by the nation’s border police, according to authorities.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in South Africa sanctioned the disembarkation of passengers on Thursday evening, following assurances from a local humanitarian organization to offer accommodation to the passengers throughout their sojourn in South Africa, should the need arise.
“Given that Palestinians are eligible for 90-day visa-exempt travel to South Africa, they have been processed as per normal and will be required to adhere to all conditions of entry,” South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) said in a statement late on Thursday.
The chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians landed shortly after 8 am (06:00 GMT) on Thursday morning at OR Tambo International Airport, which serves the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
According to the BMA, the Palestinian passengers were not allowed to disembark from the aircraft after it was discovered they “did not have the customary departure stamps in their passports”.
The passengers also did not indicate how long they intended to stay in South Africa or the address of their accommodation, the BMA said.
“Following their failure to pass the immigration test and given that none of the travellers expressed an intention to apply for asylum, they were initially denied entry,” it added.
News that the Palestinians were forced to wait on the tarmac at the airport for hours reportedly caused outrage among the public in South Africa, which is a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and has led the charge at the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israel for perpetrating genocide in Gaza.
The order to finally allow the Palestinian passengers to leave the plane came after the country’s Home Affairs Ministry received a commitment from a humanitarian aid organisation – Gift of the Givers – to accommodate the visitors during their stay.
A total of 130 Palestinians subsequently entered the country, while 23 transferred from South Africa to other destinations, from the airport, according to the BMA.
The AFP news agency said the plane was a charter flight operated by South African airline Global Airways and had travelled from Kenya.
Founder of Gift of the Givers, Imtiaz Sooliman, told public broadcaster SABC that he did not know who had chartered the aircraft and that a first plane carrying 176 Palestinians had landed in Johannesburg on October 28, with some of the passengers departing for other countries.
“The families of this first group told us yesterday their family members are coming on a second plane, and nobody knew about that plane,” Sooliman said.
“Israel deliberately did not stamp the passports of these poor people to exacerbate their suffering in a foreign country,” he added in a post on social media.
Other humanitarian groups are also now offering to provide support for the Palestinian visitors, he added.
Reuters/ Oyenike Oyeniyi