{"id":124998,"date":"2025-11-19T20:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/kenya-defends-role-in-gaza-south-africa-flight-controversy\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T20:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:04:09","slug":"kenya-defends-role-in-gaza-south-africa-flight-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/kenya-defends-role-in-gaza-south-africa-flight-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya defends role in Gaza\u2013South Africa Flight Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 19 \u2013 Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi has denied reports that Kenya is being used as an international human trafficking hub.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This comes after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that investigations are underway into how a group of 153 Palestinians from Gaza were mysteriously put on a plane that \u201cpassed by Nairobi\u201d before flying to South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa, the group left Israel\u2019s Ramon Airport and travelled to the country via Nairobi \u201cwithout any prior notice or coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Mudavadi told the National Assembly that the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority had clear information and proper records of the aircraft. He urged MPs to seek a comprehensive response from the Ministry of Transport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe civil aviation of Kenya had proper record, proper sight of that aircraft and I want to reassure that Kenya does not get involved in any human trafficking. I think there are misleading reports that need to be corrected and a proper question focusing on that would enable the relevant ministry to respond specifically to it,\u201d Mudavadi said.<\/p>\n<p>South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a probe into the \u201cmysterious chartered plane\u201d after the group arrived at OR Tambo International Airport but were initially refused entry and were stuck in the plane for more than 10 hours as they \u201cdid not have the customary departure stamps in their passports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local authorities said most were eventually allowed in after intervention from a local charity and because of the government\u2019s \u201cempathy [and] compassion\u201d, Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n<p>The circumstances of their departure from Gaza and travel to South Africa remain unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza\u2019s crossings, said in a statement: \u201cThe residents left the Gaza Strip after Cogat received approval from a third country to receive them.\u201d It did not specify the country.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Palestinian Embassy in South Africa, the group left Israel\u2019s Ramon Airport and flew to the country via the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, \u201cwithout any prior note or coordination\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>South African authorities told the BBC reported that of the 153 Palestinians, only 23 managed to fly on to other destinations, leaving 130 who were admitted into the country.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 19 \u2013 Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi has denied reports that Kenya is being used as an international human trafficking hub. This comes after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that investigations are underway into how a group of 153 Palestinians from Gaza were mysteriously put [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}