A plane carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza landed at South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday, triggering confusion and an investigation by the local authorities.
The passengers did not carry proper travel documents and did not know how long they would be staying in the country.
South African authorities soon discovered that their journey was arranged by a shadowy NGO body called 'Al-Majd Europe'.
South African activists are now alleging that Israel is using the humanitarian group to force Palestinians out of Gaza, Middle East Eye reported.
The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement that the flight was registered by “an unregistered and misleading organisation 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 military official who spoke anonymously said that the organisation Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.
The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by the NGO from a point in the Gaza Strip to the Karem Shalom crossing. Then Al-Majd buses picked up the passengers and took them to an airport in Israel, where they flew out of the country.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the Palestinians were “flushed” out of Gaza . “Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” he said.
Two South African NGO representatives later claimed that the Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and was working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.
One Palestinian man who was on the flight that landed in South Africa said that there was a strong coordination between the Al-majd group and the Israeli army. He described the process as “routine” to Al-Jazeera. He also said that there was a thorough search of his personal belongings before he got on a bus that reached the Karen Shalom. The man had paid $6000 to get himself and two other family members out of Gaza.
The group Al Majd Europe claims to have been founded in Germany in 2010. The website does not provide office locations and credible contact information.
