South Africa says charter flight carrying Palestinians is part of plan to empty Gaza

South Africa's foreign minister on Monday criticised a plane that arrived in the country with more than 150 Palestinians on board.

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said the flight was part of a "broader agenda” to clear out Gaza and the West Bank through a network of chartered flights.

Lamola did not say who South Africa believed had organised the chartered plane but his comments were seen as accusing Israel of being behind a campaign to remove people from the Palestinian territories and send them to other countries.

“Indeed, we are suspicious [...] about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane and the passengers that were on the plane,” Lamola said.

The minister called the incident "a clearly orchestrated operation" and said it "represents a broader agenda to remove Palestinians from Palestine."

The Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories said the Palestinians on the chartered plane to South Africa left the Gaza Strip after Israel received approval from a third country to receive them.

Israel’s government has previously embraced a pledge by United States President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians in a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

Ongoing investigation

The charter plane at the centre of last week's incident arrived in Johannesburg on Thursday with 153 Palestinian travellers on board, including families with children and a woman who was nine months pregnant.

South African authorities said the Palestinians did not have the correct documents to travel to South Africa or proper exit documents from Israel.

They were ultimately granted entry after being blocked from disembarking the plane by immigration officials. They were held onboard on the tarmac at O.R. Tambo International Airport for about 12 hours, in a move fiercely criticised by rights groups.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there will be an investigation by intelligence services into who was behind the plane.

“We do not want any further flights to come our way because this is a clear agenda to cleanse out the Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank,” Lamola said.

South Africa has long been a supporter of Palestinian rights and a critic of Israel.

Lamola's comments followed accusations made by South African civic groups that a Jerusalem-based organization called Al-Majd organised the charter to South Africa and has ties with Israel. The groups offered no evidence for their claims of Israeli ties.