South African authorities are under pressure to explain why 153 Palestinian passengers were held on board a chartered aircraft for around 12 hours at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, despite the government’s high-profile support for the Palestinian cause in international forums.
The passengers, including families, children and at least one woman in late pregnancy, landed on Thursday morning on a Global Airways charter from Nairobi. South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) said they were initially declared “inadmissible” because their passports carried no Israeli exit stamps, they had not provided local contact addresses and they had not indicated the length of their intended stay. Officials said none had, at first, formally stated an intention to apply for asylum, so the group was treated as ordinary travellers who did not meet immigration requirements rather than as protection seekers.
Conditions on board drew criticism from those allowed onto the aircraft while it remained on the tarmac. Pastor Nigel Branken, who visited the passengers during the standoff, told South African media the cabin was “excruciatingly hot” and that children were “screaming and crying”. Video from the scene showed aid workers delivering water and supplies to the aircraft steps as the dispute continued.
The deadlock ended on Thursday evening after the Ministry of Home Affairs authorised the group to disembark. Humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers undertook to provide temporary accommodation and support, enabling immigration officials to clear 130 passengers for entry under South Africa’s standard 90-day visa-free regime, while 23 travelled onwards to third countries. It was the second such charter carrying Palestinians to arrive in Johannesburg in recent weeks; an earlier flight brought 170-plus people, also believed to be from Gaza.
The circumstances of the journey remain only partly explained. According to reporting by Haaretz, Israel has been allowing some Palestinians to leave Gaza via Ramon Airport in the south of the country, on condition that a receiving state charters an aircraft and agrees in advance to admit each passenger. Gift of the Givers says relatives in South Africa were told their family members would be flown out but many passengers did not know their final destination and some believed they were travelling to India or Indonesia. South Africa’s government has announced an investigation into how the flights were arranged, why the passengers’ passports were not stamped on exit, and what information domestic agencies received beforehand.
The episode has coincided with wider, contentious discussions about relocating Palestinians from Gaza to third countries. Haaretz and other outlets have reported on a plan linked to United States President Donald Trump’s regional team that envisages the movement of several thousand Gazans abroad as part of a post-war arrangement, with Israel easing exit restrictions where host states agree to receive them. One reported option has been Indonesia, though Jakarta has publicly said it was unaware of any agreement to resettle Palestinians and has signalled caution over such proposals.
Parallel talks have concerned a more specific group: around 200 Hamas militants trapped in tunnel complexes in southern Gaza. Israeli and US officials have discussed the possibility of allowing them to leave under an amnesty arrangement, but, according to Israeli media, no country has yet agreed to receive them. The difficulty in finding willing host states, and the initial reluctance in Johannesburg to admit the charter-flight passengers, have fuelled commentary that many governments are prepared to express solidarity with Palestinians at a distance but are far less ready to accept significant numbers on their own territory.
South Africa’s role is particularly scrutinised because it initiated the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023. The case alleges that Israel’s conduct in Gaza breaches its obligations under the Genocide Convention, a claim Israel rejects. In provisional measures issued in January 2024, the court found it “plausible” that some rights of Palestinians under the convention were at risk and ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid, without ordering a ceasefire. Pretoria presents the case as an expression of its constitutional commitment to human rights and as consistent with its historic opposition to apartheid.
At the same time, pro-Israel organisations and some analysts argue that South Africa’s legal activism may be influenced by external funding. A report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), highlighted by outlets including JNS and Ynet, alleges that Iran and Qatar provided substantial financial support to the governing African National Congress shortly after the ICJ filing, easing the party’s heavy debts. The South African government and the ANC have not publicly detailed the source of this funding, while a South African fact-checking article has noted that the claims rely largely on circumstantial evidence and merit independent investigation rather than being treated as established fact.
For now, the 130 Palestinians admitted to South Africa are being housed by Gift of the Givers while they decide whether to claim asylum or move on elsewhere. Border officials, humanitarian groups and foreign governments are all likely to face further questions about who organised their journey, why basic documentation was missing, and how similar movements out of Gaza are being negotiated.
The Johannesburg incident has placed those practical questions alongside the larger political debate over how far states that speak for Palestinian rights are prepared to assume direct responsibility for Palestinians seeking to leave the Strip.
