South Africa Accuses Mystery Charter Flights of Aiding Effort to Remove Palestinians

South Africa’s government is raising alarm over a chartered plane carrying more than 150 Palestinians that landed in Johannesburg last week, suggesting the flight may be part of a broader international effort to push Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank.

According to The Associated Press, Foreign Minister 🏛️Ronald Lamola said Monday that officials were “suspicious” of the circumstances surrounding the aircraft, which arrived Thursday with 153 passengers who lacked proper travel documents.

“Indeed, we are suspicious as the South African government about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane and the passengers that were in the plane,” Lamola said. “It does look like it represents a broader agenda to remove Palestinians from 🇵🇸Palestine into many different parts of the world and it’s a clearly orchestrated operation because they are not only being sent to South Africa. There are other countries where such flights have been sent.”

Lamola did not identify who he believed was responsible for arranging the flight, though his remarks were widely interpreted as pointing toward Israel.

The Israeli authority that manages civilian policy in the Palestinian territories said the passengers left Gaza under an Israeli government policy that allows residents to depart if a third country formally agrees to receive them. It did not identify that third country.

The arrival comes after years of controversy surrounding proposals to resettle Palestinians abroad. Israel previously supported President Donald Trump’s early pledge to permanently empty Gaza of its population — a plan rights groups condemned as ethnic cleansing. Trump has since abandoned that idea and helped broker a ceasefire allowing Palestinians to remain.