An Israeli official says authorities have begun ordering hundreds of African migrants to report to a new detention center in the country's southern desert while it seeks to find them a place to settle.
Daniel Solomon, a legal adviser for Israel's Interior Ministry, said today that several hundred migrants are expected in the new Holot facility by the end of the month, with the number swelling to 3,500 by the end of February.
The migrants will remain there while Israel processes asylum requests and searches for other countries to take them in. He says no one will be deported.
Some 50,000 African migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, have poured into Israel in recent years. They claim they are refugees seeking persecution. Israel says they are economic migrants seeking jobs.
