After Hundreds of Gazans Arrive on Mystery Flights, South Africa Asks How [View all]

Source: NYT

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/world/africa/gaza-palestinians-south-africa-flights.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2E8.OVh2.RCJtlAP5_ZzW&smid=url-share

".... The man on the phone said he worked for a humanitarian organization that could arrange to fly Ahmed Shehada and his family out of war-ravaged Gaza if he paid $1,600 per person to a crypto account. He demanded the money upfront.

Mr. Shehada thought it was a scam and declined. But after he learned of a friend who escaped Gaza through the same group, he decided to take a chance.

That decision led Mr. Shehada, 37, his wife and their two young children on a jittery 24-hour journey in two separate bus convoys, through tense Israeli checkpoints, onto a flight with an unknown destination and eventually to South Africa, a country to which he had never been.

.... They made it to the Kerem Shalom border post, where Israeli troops told them to leave all their belongings behind. They walked through several security checks and onto new buses that took them to Ramon Airport in southern Israel to board a charter flight, he said. They were not told until mid-flight that they were going to Nairobi, Kenya..."



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/world/africa/gaza-palestinians-south-africa-flights.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2E8.OVh2.RCJtlAP5_ZzW&smid=url-share