South Africa probes secretive Israeli role in Gaza evacuees’ flight

South Africa says it was blindsided when 153 Palestinians from Gaza landed in Johannesburg without any warning, prompting questions from President Cyril Ramaphosa and a scramble among officials to work out who authorised their travel.

Israeli authorities claimed the group had been cleared to leave only after an unnamed third country agreed to receive them. Shimi Zuaretz, a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli body that controls Palestinian civil affairs, told AFP they left Gaza “after COGAT received approval from a third country to receive them”. He refused to identify which state had issued the approval, deepening the confusion around the transfer.

When the passengers arrived on Thursday, South African border police kept them on the aircraft for 12 hours because their passports lacked Israeli departure stamps, a direct result of Israel’s restrictive and opaque exit procedures for Palestinians. They were finally allowed to enter the country after the NGO Gift of the Givers stepped in to secure temporary accommodation.

Gift of the Givers said it had no knowledge of who chartered the plane, nor the earlier flight that brought 176 Palestinians on 28 October. An Israeli official, speaking anonymously, told AFP that the organisation coordinating the evacuation had presented third-country visas to COGAT for all the travellers.

South Africa has taken a leading role in challenging Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. The government filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in 2023, accusing it of carrying out mass atrocities in Gaza.