South Africa lets in 130 Palestinians after initial denial over entry rules

Record ID: 2277555

  • Title: South Africa lets in 130 Palestinians after initial denial over entry rules
  • Date: 14th November 2025
  • Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (NOVEMBER 14, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEN LEAVING MOSQUE AFTER PRAYERS VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN MAN WHO FLED GAZA INSIDE A KITCHEN MAKING COFFEE INSIDE AT AN UNIDENTIFIED ACCOMMODATION PALESTINIAN MAN WALKING AND SITTING ON A COUCH PALESTINIAN MAN EMBRACING HIS SON (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED PALESTINIAN MAN, SAYING: “We arrived in South A
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Asylum Seekers Gaza Palestine Refugee South Africa War
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 
  • City: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA004205614112025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Africa granted entry to 130 Palestinians without travel papers after initially barring them but said it will examine accusations that an unregistered organisation arranged their trip "in an irregular and irresponsible manner".
    South Africa has long supported Palestinian aspirations to statehood and filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in 2023 accusing it of genocide in the Gaza war. Israel has denied the accusations.
    A group of 153 Palestinians arrived at Johannesburg airport on a chartered Global Airways flight from Kenya on Thursday without departure stamps, return tickets or details of accommodation, according to border authorities.
    They said none of the Palestinians had applied for asylum, leading to their initial denial of entry. It was not clear where their journey originated. Palestinians in Israeli-blockaded Gaza or the Israeli-occupied West Bank cannot easily go abroad.
    Speaking to Reuters at an unidentified location in Johannesburg, a Palestinian man said he fled with his wife and 3 kids because of the dire situation in Gaza. 
    "If South Africa allows us to seek asylum and give us rights that we do not have and that I am looking for such as education for my children, a home and a dignified life – which we all lost in Gaza," he said. 
    South Africa's interior ministry said the Palestinian embassy had told it the group was deceived and charged money by an unspecified unregistered organisation, which later "attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.
    Various humanitarian groups such as Gift of the Givers and Social Intafada, have intervened to offer accommodation and support and authorities then cleared 130 members of the group for entry under a standard 90-day visa exemption, while 23 had already departed for other destinations.
    (Production: Thando Hlophe, Sisipho Skweyiya)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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