Over 150 Palestinian refugees stranded for hours at OR Tambo before being allowed entry

By Staff Reporter

More than 150 Palestinian refugees were stranded for over 13 hours aboard a grounded aircraft at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday before being allowed to disembark and enter South Africa late in the evening.

Global Airways, a Johannesburg-based charter and leasing company, confirmed the incident in a statement, saying all passengers aboard the charter were initially declared inadmissible upon arrival at 07:50.

“As required under South African and international immigration laws and protocols, Global Airways shared the list of passengers and their travel credentials with the relevant South African authorities twenty-four hours prior to the flight’s departure,” the airline said.

“At no point prior to landing was Global Airways informed that the passengers would be deemed inadmissible,” the statement continued.

The airline said it was cooperating with the Border Management Authority (BMA) and assisting with “repatriation or onward travel arrangements for the affected passengers,” referring