South African authorities under fire after 150 Palestinians stranded on plane for hours

South African authorities faced heavy criticism Friday after they held more than 150 Palestinians, including a woman who is nine months pregnant, on a plane for 12 hours due to complications with their travel documents.

A pastor who was allowed to meet with the passengers while they were still stuck on the plane said the conditions aboard were appalling.

"We've fought at the International Court of Justice for these people and they came here because they believed in our humanity and yet we've left them on the tarmac all day," said a visibly upset Nigel Branken.

"Little babies, little children, their hair was stuck to their head as the sweat was pouring down. I got into that plane, it was like a sauna on that plane. It was unbearable conditions," Branken added.

The Palestinians landed on a charter plane at Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning after a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, South Africa's Border Management Authority said in a statement.

The Palestinian passengers did not have exit stamps from Israeli authorities, did not indicate how long they would be staying in South Africa and had not given local addresses, leading immigration authorities to deny them entry, the statement said.

Asylum

The 153 passengers including families and children were allowed to leave the plane on Thursday night after South Africa's Ministry of Home Affairs intervened and a local non-governmental organisation called Gift of the Givers offered to accommodate them.

The Border Management Authority said 23 passengers had since traveled on to other countries, leaving 130 in South Africa.

Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said it was the second plane carrying Palestinians to land in South Africa in the last two weeks and that the passengers themselves said they did not know where they were going.

He said both planes were believed to be carrying people from war-torn Gaza.

It was not immediately clear how the charter plane was organised, where exactly it came from and why the passengers were able to leave Israel without the proper documentation, as South African authorities claimed.

Branken, who greeted the Palestinians when they were allowed to leave the plane and enter the airport terminal, said that many of them now intended to claim asylum in South Africa.

South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and the treatment of the travelers has sparked anger.