On Thursday morning, a chartered plane carrying 153 Palestinians from war-torn Gaza – many without the required travel documents – landed at an airport near Johannesburg, leaving South African officials “blindsided”.

After nearly 12 hours of scrambling, the group was allowed to disembark into the care of a local charity organisation.

More details have emerged about the scheme run by “Al-Majd Europe”, through which activists argue Israel is advancing its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

The Palestinian passengers were charged a hefty sum of money by the organisation, which says on its website that it coordinates “evacuations from conflict zones”.

Here is everything we know about the group’s transit so far and who’s behind Al-Majd Europe.

What happened in South Africa?

The p

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