South Africa probing origin of unexpected charter flight carrying 153 Palestinians

Passengers allowed in on short-stay visas; PA embassy says it was deceived; Israel says group received visas from South Africa ahead of time

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South Africa granted entry to 130 Palestinians without travel papers after initially barring them, but said it will examine accusations that an unregistered organization arranged their trip “in an irregular and irresponsible manner.”

South Africa has long supported Palestinian aspirations to statehood and filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in 2023, accusing it of genocide in the Gaza war. Israel has denied the accusations.

A group of 153 Palestinians arrived at Johannesburg airport on a chartered Global Airways flight from Kenya on Thursday without departure stamps, return tickets or details of accommodation, according to border authorities.

They said none of the Palestinians had applied for asylum, leading to their initial denial of entry.

According to the Haaretz daily, the group left Gaza early Wednesday morning, via the Strip’s southern Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, following Israeli vetting.

Members of the group were then taken by bus to Israel’s Ramon Airport, near Eilat, where they boarded a chartered plane to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and from there boarded the chartered flight to Johannesburg.

Humanitarian group Gift of the Givers intervened to offer accommodation and support and authorities then cleared 130 members of the group for entry under a standard 90-day visa exemption, while 23 had already departed for other destinations.

“The Palestinians had no idea where they were bundled off to, only when in Kenya did they realize they were coming to South Africa. Some had visas for Canada, Australia and Malaysia, they were eventually permitted to leave for those countries,” said Imtiaz Sooliman, chair and founder of Gift of the Givers.

Sooliman said the remaining options in the meantime were for them to “move to a country of their choice if that country accepts them, have a temporary short-stay visa for South Africa, a visitor’s visa for 90 days which can be renewed several times, a student visa for study purposes, or apply for asylum.”

However, the South African Zionist Federation on Friday called Sooliman’s allegation a “calculated distortion weaponized to inflame outrage over facts,” given Israel uses electronic visas instead of physical passport stamps.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which oversees the flow of people and goods to and from Gaza, told the Haaretz daily that the Palestinians had received visas from South Africa ahead of time. COGAT was also cited by the newspaper as saying that, as a rule, Israel always makes sure that there is a country that will accept Gazans departing the Strip.

South Africa’s interior ministry said the Palestinian Authority’s embassy in the country had told it the group was deceived and charged money by an unspecified unregistered organization, which later “attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.

“We obviously need to look at the origins (of the 130 Palestinians’ journey), where it started, the reason why they’ve been brought here,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters.

“But … out of compassion, and because they are a people that we as South Africa have raised our hands to support, we felt that we should accept them,” he said.

Ramaphosa said South African intelligence agencies, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation were now assessing the situation.

“We are going to do a proper evaluation and see what the future portends,” he added.