South Africa allowed 130 Palestinians into the country on November 13 after initially blocking them at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport, Cradle newspaper reported on Saturday, citing border officials.
Officials said the Palestinians landed on a Global Airlines chartered flight from Kenya without exit stamps, return tickets or accommodation details and were held on board for 12 hours before being allowed to disembark.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters that the government is currently investigating how the trip was arranged and why the passengers arrived with incomplete documents.
“It’s clear that we need to look at the origins[of the 130 Palestinians’ journey]where it started and why they were brought here,” he said.
Ramaphosa added that despite the administrative issues, South Africa accepted the group “out of compassion and because these are the peoples that we, as South Africans, have raised our hands in support of.”
Border officials said none of the passengers had applied for asylum. Authorities ultimately approved the entry of 130 travelers under the standard 90-day visa waiver, but the remaining 23 had already traveled to other countries.
After learning of their arrival, the humanitarian organization Gift of the Givers provided accommodation and support.
Imtiaz Suleman, founder of Gift of the Givers, said the Palestinians “had no idea where they were being sent en masse and only in Kenya realized they were in South Africa.”
“Nobody knew about that plane,” he said. “It appears…Israel is voluntarily removing people from Gaza – you know, this is ethnic cleansing at its finest – and taking their goods, sanitary packs, food, and putting them on chartered planes.”
He added that Israel sent the group without coordinating with South Africa, leaving the officials unprepared for entry.
The group left Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday after being vetted by the Israeli military, Haaretz News Agency said.
They were taken by bus to Israel’s Ramon Airport, flown to Nairobi, and then boarded a chartered flight to Johannesburg, the report said. The previous group made the same trip two weeks ago and safely entered South Africa.
South Africa’s Home Office said the Palestinian embassy had reported that an unregistered organization had arranged the trip in an “irregular and irresponsible manner”.