South Africa has said it does not want to receive any more chartered flights carrying Palestinians, days after the controversial arrival of 153 passengers from Gaza in the country.
Many aspects of their arrival remain unclear and disputed.
The flight was part of “a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank”, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Monday.
The Israeli authorities have not responded to this allegation. However, they said that South Africa had previously agreed to receive the 153 Palestinians.
The BBC has asked the South African authorities to comment.
The Palestinian embassy in South Africa has said the group left Israel’s Ramon Airport and flew to the country via the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, “without any prior note or coordination”.
It said that “an unregistered and misleading organization” had exploited the plight of the Gaza citizens, “deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner”.
The Palestinian foreign ministry went on to say, through the embassy, that it was working with South Africa to “address this situation resulting from this lapse”.
The flight at the centre of the dispute arrived on Thursday, at South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport.
The passengers were initially refused entry into the country and were stuck on the plane for more than 10 hours.
Authorities in South Africa, which has strongly supported the Palestinian cause during the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, said this was because the passengers did not have departure stamps in their passports. Palestinians are allowed to travel to South Africa for 90 days without a visa.
Eventually, the group was allowed to disembark after intervention from a local charity. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said this was out of “empathy [and] compassion”. Twenty-three of the passengers had already taken flights elsewhere so 130 were allowed into the country, South African authorities said.
During a media briefing about South Africa’s readiness to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit, taking place this weekend, Lamola said Thursday’s flight looked like it was part of a “broader agenda to remove Palestinians from Palestine into many different parts of the world”.
“[This] is a clearly orchestrated operation because they are not only being sent to South Africa. There are other countries where such flights have been sent,” he said, without giving any details. He added that the matter was being investigated.
Two weeks ago, another plane carrying 176 Palestinians landed in Johannesburg, with some of the passengers proceeding to other countries, according to the local Gift of the Givers charity that is assisting the arrivals.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken about resettling Palestinians from Gaza “voluntarily” – a move that has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups and many in the international community.
Speaking a day after the flight arrived, South Africa’s president said the Palestinians “somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi” and flew to South Africa, according to local online publication News24.
Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza’s crossings, said in a statement: “The residents left the Gaza Strip after Cogat received approval from a third country to receive them.” It did not specify the country at the time.
Cogat on Monday named South Africa as the third country that had agreed to receive the Palestinians.
South Africa has been highly critical of Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
The country’s sympathy for the Palestinian fight for an independent state goes back decades, particularly the early 1990s when anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela pledged support for the Palestinian cause.
Large pro-Palestinian marches have been held around South Africa since the conflict began.
Smaller pro-Israel marches and rallies have been held in the country, which hosts the largest Jewish community in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2023, the South African government filed a case against Israel with the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza. Israel has strongly rejected the South African claim, calling it “baseless”.
