South Africa lets 153 Palestinians disembark following 12-hour plane ordeal

by | Nov 14, 2025 | World

Chartered plane carrying group of Palestinian passengers was second to land in South Africa in recent weeks.South Africa has allowed more than 150 Palestinian airline passengers to disembark, after they were kept on a plane for almost 12 hours by the country’s border police, authorities said.South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs authorised the passengers to get off the plane on Thursday night after a local humanitarian organisation guaranteed to provide the passengers with accommodation during their stay in South Africa if needed.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“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 8am (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 …

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