Israel to force African migrants to '3rd country'
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel is set to force illegal African migrants to choose between leaving to a "safe third-party" country in Africa or face imprisonment, the interior ministry said.
A statement from the ministry's population and immigration authority said the measure would apply to migrants currently at the southern Holot detention centre, "who infiltrated Israel and cannot be expelled to their country of origin".
There are currently around 2,000 African migrants at Holot out of an estimated 42,000 in Israel.
Most of the migrants at Holot hail from Sudan and Eritrea and would face danger were they to return home.
Israel will identify migrants who qualify for the measures, inform them of the proposed destination, and pay for their plane ticket and hotel there.
A spokeswoman for the interior ministry refused to name the third-party countries, but media and some charities named them as Rwanda and Uganda. ...