African migrants on hunger strike, but Israeli officials say no refugees will be deported
Jerusalem — Hundreds of African migrants launched a hunger strike to protest against Israel’s implementation of its controversial policy to expel or indefinitely imprison them, a spokesperson for the group said on Wednesday. Israel has resolved to expel thousands of Eritreans and Sudanese who entered illegally over the years, giving them an ultimatum to leave or risk being imprisoned indefinitely. As the migrants could face danger or imprisonment if returned to their homelands, Israel is offering to relocate them to an unnamed third country, which the migrants and aid workers say is Rwanda or Uganda. Authorities on Tuesday transferred seven Africans from the Holot detention centre to a nearby prison, prompting the 750 men held in Holot to launch a hunger strike that evening, said Abdat Ishmael, an Eritrean held at the southern Israel open facility. On Wednesday, another five were taken to prison, Ishmael said. A spokesperson for the Israeli interior ministry confirmed they had begun...
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