Israel renewed
its policy of jailing Sudanese refugees crossing the Egyptian border illegally
into Israel.
The number of
Sudanese sneaking into Israel has risen sharply in recent weeks, with more than
200 in the last week alone, according to Ha’aretz. Israel’s policy of imprisonment was
suspended in April following an outcry by human rights groups, but since then
the number of Sudanese seeking refuge in the Jewish state has climbed
vertiginously.
Some Sudanese
refugees had been placed in hotels in Beersheba, but the new policy puts them
in Israeli prisons until their applications for asylum, if submitted, are
processed.
Sudanese are
fleeing the fighting in their country by the hundreds of thousands, and many
have headed through Egypt for Israel, the closest democratic state. The
Israel-Egypt border is not completely fenced, but punishing desert conditions
make crossing the border difficult and treacherous.
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