South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an intelligence investigation following the unexpected arrival of an aircraft carrying 153 Gazan refugees at Johannesburg Airport on Thursday morning.
The refugees were held on the plane for 12 hours after South African immigration authorities claimed that their passports did not contain valid exit stamps. Officials said they had not received advance notice regarding the flight, which had previously stopped in Nairobi, Kenya.
During the delay, local charity organizations reported that the passengers were being kept in difficult conditions – without food, water, or air conditioning – including children and a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy. The organizations urged the government to open the country’s gates and allow the refugees entry.
After hours of uncertainty, authorities announced that 130 of the refugees would be permitted to enter South Africa, while the remaining 23 were transferred to neighboring countries.
Ramaphosa commented on the incident, saying, “These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here.” He also said that there will be an investigation into how the aircraft was able to land in South Africa without authorization.
The “Palestinian Embassy” in South Africa responded: “the travel of these 153 Palestinians was arranged by an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”
An Israeli source said that an organization called Al-Majd had brought the Palestinians to the Kerem Shalom crossing and presented documents claiming that a third country had agreed to receive the refugees – a claim that thus far has not been verified with South Africa.