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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 SBS News understands additional security checks have 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 stranded at the same airport.
When news of the cancellations emerged earlier this week, 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.
Samah Sabawi, co-founder of the advocacy group Palestine Australia Relief and Action (PARA), described the situation as “completely dehumanising, exhausting, disappointing.”
Meanwhile, Israel is preparing to send a delegation to Qatar for new ceasefire talks on a hostage deal presented by Gaza’s militant rulers, 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.
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