South Africa grants 90-day visa exemption to 153 Palestinians from Gaza who arrived without proper documents, drawing praise from Palestine.
ISTANBUL: Palestine commended South Africa for receiving over 150 nationals from the Gaza Strip who could not provide the required documents, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.
South Africa on Thursday granted a 90-day visa exemption for 153 Palestinians who arrived from Kenya to seek asylum in the country, although they were initially denied entry due to not passing the required interviews and lacking customary departure stamps in their passports.
“We express our appreciation and respect for the sovereign decision to grant entry visas to a number of our people from the Gaza Strip who arrived at South Africa’s airport from Israel’s Ramon Airport via the Kenyan capital Nairobi, despite their arrival without any prior notification or coordination with the country’s authorities,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday night.
South Africa, a steadfast supporter of Palestinian rights, filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Dec 29, 2023, accusing Israel, which has bombed Gaza since October 2023, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 170,700 others injured in a deadly Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. – Bernama-Anadolu
