South African authorities have withdrawn a 90-day visa exemption for Palestinians, saying the recent arrival of a charter flight with 153 people onboard was part of a campaign of “forced migration.”
SA withdraws Palestinian visa privileges over charter flight row
FILE - Families watch planes on the tarmac at Johannesburg's OR Tambo's airport, Monday Nov. 29, 2021.
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Minister of Home Affairs Dr Leon Schreiber said the flight - and another in October - had been organised by Israeli actors linked to efforts to relocate residents of the Gaza Strip.
Schreiber said it was an abuse of the visa system and of the passengers themselves, as organisers were apparently willing to leave the people destitute on arrival in South Africa.
The secretive nature of the flights has raised fears among rights groups that the Israeli government is trying to push Palestinians out of Gaza.
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 has welcomed a pledge by US President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing.