Israel says the 153 Palestinians who landed in South Africa this week had received authorisation from Pretoria before take-off, raising new questions about how two charter flights entered the country without prior public disclosure.
According to France24, officials from COGAT, the Israeli military directorate overseeing movements out of Gaza, said the passengers were cleared after Israel received confirmation from a “third country.”
The spokesperson later told the broadcaster that the third country was South Africa itself.
The flight triggered confusion on Thursday when the group was held on board for nearly twelve hours at OR Tambo International Airport because their passports did not contain Israeli exit stamps.
They were eventually allowed to disembark after humanitarian group Gift of the Givers agreed to provide temporary accommodation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters that it appeared the group had been “mysteriously put on a plane” and flown through Nairobi before landing in Johannesburg.
He said government agencies were investigating how the process unfolded and why authorities were not informed in advance.
Separate reporting by News24 details a more complex picture behind the flights. The 153 passengers, along with a previous group of 176 who arrived on 20 October, had booked through an organisation called Al Majd Europe, advertised as a humanitarian group but with unverifiable addresses and contact details.
Global Airways, a South African aviation operator, confirmed it handled both landings, while the coordinating company KT Air International operates from Tel Aviv.
The flights departed from an Israeli Air Force base in the Negev and are believed to form part of what analysts described as an Israeli strategy encouraging voluntary departures from Gaza.
Sources told News24 that additional flights had been requested as early as August, although it is unclear whether these will proceed following the current diplomatic fallout.
Many passengers told officials they did not know their final destination when they boarded buses in Gaza. They paid between R17,000 and R25,700 for the journey, which included seven nights of accommodation.
Most did not intend to seek asylum and requested entry as tourists. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber confirmed that 130 were admitted on visitor visas and that 23 had already travelled on to other countries including Egypt and Australia.
The Border Management Authority said the group lacked exit stamps and could not initially provide accommodation details, both standard requirements for entry processing. Language barriers also complicated interviews.
South Africa, which has filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, has been openly critical of the Gaza war.
Ramaphosa called for compassion toward the arrivals while emphasising the need to establish how the flights were arranged without advance notice.
The investigation into the circumstances of the two chartered flights is ongoing.
