South African authorities are launching an investigation into how a group of 153 Palestinians ended up being held on a charter plane for 12 hours at Johannesburg's OR Tambo international airport without proper travel documents. The migrants, who claimed to be from Gaza, were initially denied entry due to the lack of required paperwork.
However, after intervention by humanitarian groups, including the Gift of the Givers Foundation, which claims it was involved in arranging the group's travel, 130 members of the group were cleared for entry under a standard visa exemption. The remaining 23 individuals had already departed for other destinations.
Details about how the migrants ended up on the plane remain scarce, but authorities say they will look into where their journey began and why they were brought to South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the migrants were admitted to the country "out of compassion," but emphasized that an investigation would be conducted into their situation.
The migrant crisis has sparked debate in South Africa about its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with many criticizing the government's slow response and lack of information on the flights. Some have accused officials of being too slow to act on their support for the Palestinian cause.
South Africa's home affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, clarified that none of the migrants had applied for asylum and were instead granted entry under a standard visa exemption, subject to certain conditions. However, concerns remain about national security and how such situations can be prevented in the future.
However, after intervention by humanitarian groups, including the Gift of the Givers Foundation, which claims it was involved in arranging the group's travel, 130 members of the group were cleared for entry under a standard visa exemption. The remaining 23 individuals had already departed for other destinations.
Details about how the migrants ended up on the plane remain scarce, but authorities say they will look into where their journey began and why they were brought to South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that the migrants were admitted to the country "out of compassion," but emphasized that an investigation would be conducted into their situation.
The migrant crisis has sparked debate in South Africa about its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with many criticizing the government's slow response and lack of information on the flights. Some have accused officials of being too slow to act on their support for the Palestinian cause.
South Africa's home affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, clarified that none of the migrants had applied for asylum and were instead granted entry under a standard visa exemption, subject to certain conditions. However, concerns remain about national security and how such situations can be prevented in the future.
... 153 people stuck in airport for 12 hours because of some paper work errors or whatever... and now there's all this drama about it 
. i mean, what was the point of having a humanitarian group like gift of the givers foundation intervening if they're just gonna get people cleared to enter under some standard visa exemption? 
doesn't seem right to me... and what about these 23 who flew out already? didn't even get a chance to ask questions? 
... national security is always an excuse for something going wrong, but come on... can't we just figure this stuff out without all the drama? 
and I'm still trying to process what happened with those 23 Palestinians stuck on that charter plane for 12 hours... It's crazy thinking they were denied entry due to lack of paperwork, but then humanitarian groups stepped in and things changed overnight 
What really got me was the president saying it was all done out of compassion 
, but we need more info on what actually happened behind the scenes. I'm not buying that everything was just a big mistake 
It's time to get real about our stance and support for Palestine 
.
. Like, what even is going on here? A charter plane lands at OR Tambo with 153 Palestinians, no papers, denied entry... sounds like a recipe for disaster. But then humanitarian groups step in and BAM! 130 people get cleared to enter, 23 fly off to who-knows-where... it's all so shady 
️ anyway, think its time for our gov to step up & get some info out there about what's goin on with the israeli-palestinian conflict we all feel somethin bout this 
This is a big mess... I mean, 153 people showing up at the airport with no travel docs? It's crazy! The government needs to get on top of this ASAP. 
Like, what even happened to them? How did they end up on a plane without proper docs? 
It's like, is it too much to ask for some basic transparency in how people get here? 
I'm kinda shocked by this whole ordeal 
. I guess it's good that the authorities are looking into it now, but can we not learn from this kind of thing? 
Like, make sure everyone has their paperwork in order before boarding a plane, you know? 
now let's get to the bottom of this and find out where these ppl came from and why they were brought here 
.
i dont think so. we need more transparency here. like what's really going on behind the scenes? are there some big players involved that we dont know about? 
and omg 130 people got a free pass but 23 had to go elsewhere... sounds like someone was playing favorites