South Africa has revoked the 90-day visa exemption previously granted to Palestinian passport holders, following intelligence investigations that revealed the policy was being systematically exploited to facilitate forced displacement from Gaza.
The South African Ministry of Home Affairs announced the suspension on Sunday, stating that national intelligence services had uncovered organized efforts by “external actors” to manipulate the visa waiver system as part of what officials described as coordinated migration schemes targeting Palestinian civilians.
According to ministry officials, the investigation exposed a network of intermediaries linked to Israeli-connected actors who were arranging the movement of Palestinians through irregular channels that bypassed standard travel procedures.
The probe was prompted by an incident in November when 153 Palestinians arrived at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport without proper exit documentation. Authorities noted the group had not travelled on commercial flights and appeared to have been transported through middlemen under suspicious circumstances.
“The individuals were reportedly permitted to take only U.S. dollars and basic personal items, without checked luggage or return tickets,” the ministry stated, describing conditions “consistent with coordinated attempts to remove people from Gaza rather than facilitate normal travel.”
According to international news reports, the flights were connected to a consulting firm registered in Estonia, allegedly operated by an individual holding both Estonian and Israeli citizenship. South African authorities identified this firm as one of several intermediaries involved in organising the transfers.
The ministry emphasised that the decision to suspend the visa exemption was designed to prevent “manipulation and coercion of Gazans during a period of widespread forced displacement in the Gaza Strip.”
Despite the policy change, South African officials confirmed that asylum applications from Palestinians seeking protection will continue to be processed according to domestic and international legal standards. Individuals not applying for asylum will remain subject to existing legal provisions that were in place before the visa-free policy’s revocation.
Pretoria linked the suspension to its ongoing international genocide case against Israel, stating that it considers public statements by senior Israeli officials advocating Gaza’s depopulation as part of a “broader pattern of conduct currently under scrutiny.”
The government said it is strengthening migration and border control measures to ensure that “no form of forced or externally driven displacement of Palestinians is enabled through its territory.”
The ministry stressed that the new policy reflects South Africa’s commitment to “safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and preventing any abuse of legal migration channels for political or coercive purposes.”
ALSO READ: South Africa raises alarm over ‘suspicious’ Palestinian arrivals, warns of ‘cleansing agenda’
