JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating the people behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg carrying more than 150 Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip, the country’s president announced Friday.
The plane landed at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning, but the passengers were not allowed to disembark until later that evening after Palestinian immigration revealed they could not reveal where in South Africa they would be staying and for how long, the South African Border Agency said.
Palestinians also do not have exit stamps or slips, which Israeli authorities usually issue to people leaving Gaza.
South African authorities’ initial move to refuse to allow passengers to disembark sparked intense criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said 153 Palestinians, including families with children and a woman who was nine months pregnant, were kept in deplorable conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said an investigation was underway to determine how the Palestinians came to South Africa via Nairobi, Kenya.
“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously got put on a plane that passed through Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.
Palestinians being “exploited”
The Palestinian embassy in South Africa said in a statement that the flight was “arranged by an unregistered and misleading organization that took advantage of the tragic humanitarian situation of the people in the Gaza Strip, defrauded families, collected money and facilitated the journey in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This organization later sought to deny responsibility when problems arose.”
It did not say who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information, said an organization called al-Majid arranged for the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.
The official said Israel escorted a bus organized by al-Majid and took the Palestinians from a gathering point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom intersection. A bus from Al Majid then picked up the Palestinians and took them to Israel’s Ramon airport, from where they were flown out of the country.
South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled to other countries, but 130 remained and were allowed to enter the country following intervention from the South African Department of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers.
“Even if they do not have the necessary documents and papers, they are from conflict-torn and war-torn countries and we must embrace them out of compassion and empathy and enable them to deal with the situation they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.
dark strategy
The secret nature of the flight raised concerns among rights groups that it was an attempt by the Israeli government to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policy in the Palestinian territories. According to the paper, the Palestinians left the Gaza Strip on a chartered plane after receiving approval from a third country as part of the Israeli government’s policy to allow Gaza residents to leave. The name of the third country was not disclosed.
Under this policy, approximately 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war.
The Israeli government had accepted US President Donald Trump’s pledge to permanently remove more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, a plan that human rights groups say amounts to ethnic cleansing. At the time, President Trump said they would not be allowed to return.
President Trump subsequently withdrew from the plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that would allow Palestinians to remain in Gaza.
South African leader Ramaphosa said it appeared Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “removed” from Gaza, but did not elaborate. The comments followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al Majid was working in partnership with Israel to remove Palestinians from Gaza.
They provided no evidence of the claims, and COGAT did not respond to requests for comment on these claims.
Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, who is among those claiming involvement from what he calls an “Israeli front organization”, said the plane was the second to arrive in South Africa under mysterious circumstances, after the plane that landed on October 28 carrying more than 170 Palestinians. The plane’s arrival has not been announced by authorities.
Souliman said passengers on the new plane were initially unsure of their destination and were not fed for two days on the journey to Johannesburg.
“They were given nothing on the plane. This must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.
South Africa has long supported the Palestinian cause and criticized Israel, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in a highly controversial case at the United Nations Supreme Court and leading the international pro-Palestinian movement. Israel denies genocide and accuses South Africa of being Hamas’s “legal wing.”
Those who arrived in South Africa underscored the desperation of Palestinians after a two-year war that left more than 69,000 Palestinians dead and their territory reduced to rubble, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between armed groups and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.
Organization based in Jerusalem
An organization called Al Majid Europe has previously been accused of facilitating Palestinian travel from Gaza. On its website, it describes itself as a humanitarian organization founded in Germany in 2010 and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and relief operations to Muslim communities in conflict zones.
This website does not list an office phone number or exact address. Al-Majid Europe is listed as working with a variety of organizations, including 15 international organizations, but none are listed and a message “to be announced soon” appeared in that section on Friday.
Another message posted on the website on Friday said people were impersonating the website and demanding money or virtual currency “under the pretext of promoting travel or humanitarian aid.” Almajid Europe did not immediately respond to a request for comment via the email address listed on its site.
