Key Points
- At least eight Palestinians who had their visas cancelled will have them reinstated, SBS News understands.
- A government source told SBS News additional security checks had been undertaken.
- Around 12 Palestinians had visas cancelled while travelling to Australia, leaving them stranded in various places.
Some Palestinians who had their visas cancelled while travelling to Australia could have them reinstated, SBS News understands.
It was revealed on Friday that over how some visa holders had passed through the and had subsequently cancelled their visas.
But a government source told SBS News on Sunday afternoon that additional security checks had been undertaken and the cancellation may be reversed in some cases, allowing them to continue to travel.
About 12 Palestinians holding temporary visas were hit with cancellations , leaving them stranded in airports in countries including Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates.
One man had been stuck at Istanbul airport for three days, and another family with three young children was stranded at the same airport.
SBS News understands that at least eight of them have been told their visas have been reinstated, and more could learn outcomes soon.
Palestinians at a local market next to destroyed buildings in Rafah, Gaza, on Thursday. Israel’s prime minister claims to have approved a new attack plan on Rafah. Source: AAP, AP / Fatima Shbair
Advocacy group Palestine Australia Relief and Action (PARA) described the reinstating of visas as a “relief”.
“We are so relieved. These people followed the process they were told to, and we’re pleased the Australian government has acknowledged that and will enable them to safely reunite with family in Australia,” PARA Board Director Reem Borrows said.
“They have experienced unimaginable horrors in Gaza, and we want to continue working with the government to respond to these people with compassion and humanity.”
Earlier on Saturday, refugee advocate Craig Foster condemned the cancellations and accused the federal government of treating the visa holders “improperly” and called for the decision to be reversed.
“We have a wonderful Palestinian-Australian community here who are seeking to bring relatives and close family members, and they have to be able to do so,” he said.
The federal government has acknowledged the cancellations would have been “incredibly distressing” for those affected and their families, but maintains it has made the right moves and has said it reserves the right to cancel issues visas if “circumstances change”.
Opposition home affairs spokesperson James Paterson told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning that the Coalition had concerns over the speed at which some visa applications had been approved, citing an ABC report that stated one had been approved in an hour.
Patterson did not specify which report this was, but a story the ABC published in December last year noted a Palestinian man had applied for a visa for his mother in her 70s and had received a response within that time frame.
“It is just not possible to do adequate identity let alone security checks on people coming from a war zone run by a terrorist organisation in that short amount of time,” he said.
Australia is among the countries that designate Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, as a terrorist organisation in its entirety, but some only list its military wing as a terrorist group.
When , the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific urged the government to “urgently” reconsider its decision and enable those who had been granted visas to travel safely to Australia.
“With extreme difficulty, these individuals and families were finally able to exit through the Rafah crossing and escape unimaginable horrors in Gaza, only to find themselves stranded in transit countries, unable to travel onward to Australia,” the delegation said in a statement at the time.
Meanwhile, Israel is preparing to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks on a hostage deal presented by Hamas.
The offer foresees dozens of Israeli hostages freed in return for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, during a weeks-long ceasefire that would let more aid into Gaza, according to the Reuters news agency.
Hamas also called for talks in a later stage on ending the war, but Israel has said it is only willing to negotiate a temporary truce.
The delegation will be led by the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, according to a source who spoke to Reuters, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to convene the security cabinet to discuss the proposal before the talks start. Netanyahu’s office has said the Hamas offer was still based on “unrealistic demands”.
Efforts failed repeatedly to secure a temporary ceasefire before Islam’s holy month of Ramadan started a week ago, with Israel saying it plans to launch a new offensive in Rafah, the last relatively safe city in tiny, crowded Gaza after five months of war.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said he had approved an attack plan on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are sheltering, and that the civilian population would be evacuated. It gave no time frame and there was no immediate evidence of extra preparations on the ground.
With additional reporting by Reuters via the Australian Associated Press.
Source Agencies
