South African authorities faced heavy criticism on Friday after more than 150 Palestinians, including a woman nine months pregnant, were held on a plane for approximately 12 hours due to complications with their travel documents.
A pastor, who was permitted to meet with the passengers while they remained stranded, reported that conditions on board were "extremely hot" and that children were "screaming and crying".
The group had landed at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning via a charter plane, following a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, as confirmed by South Africa's Border Management Authority.
The Palestinian passengers did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and had not given local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry, the statement said.
The 153 passengers including families and children were allowed to leave the plane on Thursday night after South Africa's Ministry of Home Affairs intervened and a local non-governmental organization called Gift of the Givers offered to accommodate them. The Border Management Authority said 23 passengers had since traveled on to other countries, leaving 130 in South Africa.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks and that the passengers themselves said they did not know where they were going. He said both planes were believed to be carrying people from war-torn Gaza.
It was not immediately clear how the charter plane was organized, where exactly it came from and why the passengers were able to leave Israel without the proper documentation, as South African authorities claimed.
The South African pastor who was given access to the plane while it was on the tarmac told national broadcaster SABC that many of the Palestinians now intended to claim asylum in South Africa.
South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and the treatment of the travelers has sparked anger.
“It's dire,” Nigel Branken, the pastor, said in an interview with SABC on Thursday from the plane as he described the conditions. “When I came onto the plane it was excruciatingly hot. There were lots of children just sweating and screaming and crying.”
“I do not believe this is what South Africa is about. South Africa should be letting these people into the airport at the very least and letting them apply for asylum. This is their basic fundamental right guaranteed in our constitution.”
