3 weeks ago
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A ammunition institution with Israeli ties exploited Palestinians hopeless to fly the ongoing warfare successful Gaza, charging them ample sums of wealth to covertly exit the state successful what whitethorn beryllium an authoritative program to ethnically cleanse the territory.
In an exclusive integer investigation, Al Jazeera probed past month’s enigma formation that spirited 153 passengers from Gaza to South Africa, unearthing figures moving for Al-Majd Europe, an unregistered beforehand organisation that falsely claimed to beryllium moving for humanitarian aims.
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The Palestinians arrived astatine OR Tambo International Airport, which serves the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, connected November 13. Refused introduction by borderline constabulary arsenic they did not person departure stamps from Israel connected their passports, they were stuck connected the craft for 12 hours earlier being allowed to disembark.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted the passengers “out of compassion”, but said astatine the clip that his government, which has agelong been a beardown protagonist of the Palestinian cause, would analyse arsenic it seemed that they had been “flushed out” of the Gaza Strip.
Forced evacuations
Israeli officials person antecedently openly stated that they enactment what they person termed the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, successful what efficaciously would beryllium their forced evacuation.
In March 2025, Israel’s information furniture acceptable up a arguable bureau to get Palestinians to permission Gaza voluntarily, which was headed by erstwhile lawman manager of the Ministry of Defence, Yaakov Blitstein. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said astatine the clip that 40 percent of Gaza residents were “interested successful emigrating”.
The erstwhile month, Al-Majd Europe acceptable up its online beingness with a caller website stating that it focused connected alleviation efforts successful Muslim countries, specifically “for Gazans wishing to exit Gaza”, with claims that it had organised mobile wellness clinics successful the enclave and trips for Palestinian doctors overseas that Al Jazeera aboriginal discovered to beryllium false.
A rider from the November formation to South Africa, whose individuality was kept hidden for his ain protection, said helium contacted the organisation aft uncovering the nexus online, which promised not lone a mode retired of Gaza, but information and aesculapian attraction for injuries. “Initially, it said it was free. Then they asked for $1,400 [per person]. Then the terms went up to $2,500,” helium said.
Testimonies gathered by Al Jazeera showed that payments requested varied from $1,000-2,000 per person, with strict criteria for signing up. Only families would beryllium accepted connected information that they kept their departure secret, with details connected formation departures lone released a fewer hours earlier takeoff.
Passengers accidental they were told to get astatine the Karem Abu Salem crossing (called Kerem Shalom successful Israel) successful confederate Gaza. When they arrived, their idiosyncratic belongings were confiscated, and they were enactment connected buses to Ramon Airport, adjacent the Israeli metropolis of Eilat, seemingly by Israeli authorities.
Nigel Branken, a South African societal idiosyncratic who helped tho Palestinians connected the plane, antecedently told Al Jazeera that determination were “very intelligibly … marks of Israel progressive successful this cognition to instrumentality radical … to displace them”.
Evacuees told Al Jazeera they were not informed of their last destination until moments earlier boarding. They were past escorted onto a formation registered to a marque caller hose called FLYYO without exit stamps successful their question documents.
Al Jazeera discovered that FLYYO has organised a fig of akin flights, each taking disconnected from Israeli airports, headed to Romania, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya and different destinations.
False identity
Further scrutiny of Al-Majd Europe, which said it was a “humanitarian instauration established successful 2010 successful Germany”, with a caput bureau located successful Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood successful occupied East Jerusalem, aboriginal revealed its individuality to beryllium a sham.
Al Jazeera recovered nary institution registered by that sanction connected immoderate German oregon European database. The expected code does not look successful authoritative Jerusalem records, with the determination connected Google Maps corresponding to a infirmary and a cafe.
While digging into the flights, Al Jazeera recovered 2 faces linked to the organisation – some Palestinians. The archetypal was Muayad Hisham Saidam, which the organisation lists arsenic its humanitarian projects manager successful Gaza.
A hunt of Saidam’s sanction reveals that successful May 2024, his woman created a nationalist leafage to inquire for donations to assistance her household permission Gaza. A twelvemonth later, Saidam posted an representation of himself boarding a level chartered by Fly Lili, different Romanian airline, announcing that helium was departing Gaza.
Using the space of his shadow, clip of the formation and the determination of the level connected the Ramon Airport runway, Al Jazeera discovered Saidam was apt connected a formation connected May 27, 2025, which near Israel for Budapest, with 57 Palestinian passengers from Gaza.
It appears that Saidam’s individuality is real, and that his household was apt evacuated to Indonesia. But his transportation to Al-Majd Europe is unclear.
The 2nd nationalist look of the organisation belongs to a antheral named lone arsenic Adnan, though helium appears to person nary integer footprint.
On November 13, the time of the Johannesburg flight, a leafage containing a fig of spouse companies was deleted from Al-Majd’s website. Using open-source quality techniques, Al Jazeera recovered the page, which showed a fig of well-known groups that Al-Majd claimed to person been moving with, including the International Red Cross.
One sanction stood out: Talent Globus – a recruitment institution established successful Estonia successful 2024, with a money containing lone $350. Its website lists 4 employees, including Director Tom Lind, a businessman with Israeli and Estonian citizenship.
Lind’s sanction has been linked to a fig of different companies wherever he’s listed either arsenic a laminitis oregon manager – each without authoritative registration oregon carnal addresses.
Lind’s sanction appeared successful reports by Israeli paper Haaretz arsenic 1 of the coordinators of the flights of Palestinians leaving Ramon Airport.
In May 2025, Lind posted connected his LinkedIn leafage that helium had near Talent Globus, and was alternatively focused connected “humanitarian efforts to enactment Palestinians”. He said that, alongside a web of individuals and groups, helium had assisted with the evacuation of a “substantial number” of radical from Gaza.
Photos of the different 3 employees of Talent Globus from its website – James Thompson, Maria Rodriguez, David Chen – each turned retired to beryllium banal images.
And overmuch similar those employees, it appears arsenic though Al-Majd itself is simply a fake humanitarian group, starring to the question of what those down the organisation are trying to hide.
Publicly, Israel has seemed to backmost down from its program to promote “voluntary emigration”. But Al Jazeera’s probe poses much questions – is Al-Majd portion of a bigger plan, a mode to softly bare Gaza of its inhabitants, 1 concealed formation astatine a time?
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