Overview
- Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola called the charter movements a clearly orchestrated effort to remove Palestinians and said no further flights will be allowed.
- The latest flight carrying 153 people landed November 13 via Nairobi; passengers were held about 12 hours over missing exit stamps before 130 were admitted on 90‑day exemptions and 23 flew onward.
- COGAT said departures from Gaza were authorized after a third country agreed to receive the travelers and later identified that country as South Africa, a point Pretoria is investigating.
- Passengers and NGOs say a group known as Al‑Majd arranged the trips, collected roughly $1,400–$2,000 per person, and left families without clear destinations or documentation, prompting exploitation and trafficking concerns.
- Authorities confirmed an earlier flight with about 176 arrivals on October 28, while Gift of the Givers is housing those admitted and the Palestinian embassy condemned the organizer as unregistered and misleading.