Israel to deport African migrants to third-party country

Israel's Interior Minister, Gideon Sa'ar, said on Wednesday that Israel has reached a deal with a third-party state willing to absorb on its land African migrants and asylum seekers from Israel. During a discussion in the Knesset's (parliament) Interior Committee, Sa'ar said that the deal was approved a few days ago by Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein. Sa'ar has not disclosed the name of the third country nor said when Israel will start to deport migrants to that country. In the last months, an Israeli special envoy has been conducting talks with several African countries in order to forge an agreement to provide them with military and other assistance in return for their willingness to accept migrants. Sa'ar said that the deal will be implemented in stages and according to his estimation, by the end of the first year, 2,000-3, 000 Eritrean and Sudanese migrants will be transferred to the third-party country. The committee also approved a new measure that bars Israel's about 35,000 African migrants from transferring money abroad until they leave the country. The government's moves, along with completing a fence between Egypt and Israel to prevent migrants from entering the country, were made amid growing protests by Israelis living in impoverished and poor neighborhoods, mainly in southern Tel Aviv, where a majority of the refugees are stranded in poor conditions.