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A mystery evacuation flight carrying about 150 Palestinians from Gaza landed in South Africa in November, catching people on the ground by surprise, Associated Press reported. In a report based on contracts, passenger lists, text messages, financial statements and interviews, AP said the flights were discreetly organized by an Israeli group working through another company to keep its links to Israel at arm’s length.
AP said the November South Africa-bound flight was not the only one. It reported that, since May, at least three flights filled with Gaza residents who had signed up to leave the enclave landed in Indonesia and South Africa. The investigation added that the arrangement raised questions about the motives behind the departures of hundreds of people.
At the time, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola criticized the flights. AP reported that Lamola called them a “clear agenda to cleanse out the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.” AP said Ad Kan kept distance from the trips, which it said were organized through a company called Al-Majd that described itself as a humanitarian organization providing aid for Muslim communities in conflict.
AP said the history of Ad Kan and its founder, Gilad Ach, suggested the Israeli group could have been driven by an agenda beyond humanitarian assistance. AP reported that Ach is a West Bank settler activist and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza. AP said that after Trump floated the idea, Ach published a report outlining an implementation approach for what he described as “voluntary exit,” including a timeline and coordination with the United States and receiving countries.
Trump later abandoned the proposal after international condemnation, including accusations by Palestinians, rights groups and the U.N. secretary-general that it could amount to “ethnic cleansing,” AP reported. AP also said far-right Israeli groups, including members tied to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, continued to support removing Gaza’s Palestinians with the aim that Israel could later resettle the area. AP added that, with knowledge of the United States, Israel’s government approached several governments to help facilitate emigration from Gaza, and that Israel created the Voluntary Emigration Bureau run by the Defense Ministry earlier this year.
AP reported that Ach declined to be interviewed for the story and, in a text message to AP, said he was proud to lead organizations voicing support for the rights of Palestinians in Gaza who want to leave for safer parts of the world free from Hamas. He also denied South Africa’s allegation that the flights were meant to cleanse Gaza and the West Bank of Palestinians, saying instead that they were humanitarian flights and that those who left reached out for help and that some paid part of the costs.
In the report, AP included language in which Ach pushed back against the idea that departure was driven by forced emigration. AP also said Ach did not respond to questions about using Al-Majd to distance links to Israel. Critics cited in the report said emigration from Gaza is not voluntary after the war left much of the strip uninhabitable, while rights groups warned that people need to be allowed to return and that Israel has a decades-long track record of making it difficult for Palestinian residents to return to Gaza.
AP interviewed Palestinians who left Gaza via the flights, and described differences in what passengers knew and how they described the decision to travel. One 37-year-old Palestinian who arrived in South Africa in November, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of punishment, told AP: “There was famine, and we had no options. My children were almost killed.” He added: “Death and destruction was everywhere, all day, for two years, and nobody came to the rescue.” AP reported that several passengers said they did not know who was behind the trip but largely did not care as long as they could leave.
AP said some passengers began hearing about a company transferring people out of Gaza in early 2025, while others saw ads online, on social media, or were sent to Al-Majd’s website through friends. AP reported that with fighting raging and Gaza largely reduced to rubble, some said they did not know where they were going and wanted only to get away. AP also reported that people were transported by bus from Gaza to Israel, searched, and allowed to take a few belongings onto the plane, after receiving messages instructing them to meet at a location.
The report said Palestinians paid up to $2,000 per person through bank and cryptocurrency transfers, and that the website indicated they would be taken to South Africa, Indonesia or Malaysia without offering a choice. AP reported that a flight in May took nearly 60 Palestinians from Israel via Hungary to Indonesia and other locations, and that a second flight in October took some 170 people from Israel to South Africa via Kenya, according to people who helped organize the planes, flight-tracking information and Palestinians who used the service.
AP said an American-Israeli businessman, Moti Kahana, signed a contract in August, shared with AP, to organize a flight for Ad Kan. Kahana, who has experience evacuating people from conflict zones including Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria, told AP that he was approached to arrange flights for more than 300 Palestinians to Indonesia from Ramon airport, and that the contract stated his company would provide a “flight rescue service” for a minimum payment of $750,000. AP reported that during planning, Kahana said the route changed to South Africa and that his participation ended.
Kahana also described what he said was Ach’s effort to minimize visible links to Israel. He told AP, “It’s the same people, the same company, different names,” and added, “They have a group of Arab-speaking people that answer the phone, and they don’t want to show Israel involvement; they have like an Arab face to it.” AP said Kahana told him Ach’s team gave him a spreadsheet listing at least 13 people whose families said they registered and paid through Al-Majd and flew to South Africa.
In comments provided to AP, Israeli officials declined to address the flights. AP reported that Netanyahu’s office and COGAT, the defense body that facilitates departures to Palestinians leaving Gaza, declined to comment, and that COGAT previously said it allows departures for Palestinians from Gaza through Israel if they have visas to the destination countries. AP added that Netanyahu’s office, COGAT and Ach did not answer AP’s questions about whether Palestinians who fled would be allowed to return.
AP also reported that after the second South Africa-bound flight landed in November, the government revoked its 90-day visa exemptions for Palestinian passport holders, citing “deliberate and ongoing abuse” by Israelis linked to emigration efforts. Families who flew to South Africa told AP they were not aware Israelis were behind the trips, but said that ultimately did not matter to them because their focus was on getting relatives out of Gaza.