Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present to the government on Sunday a plan to address the influx of illegal migrants from Africa. The plan will be allocated approximately NIS 630 million and will be funded by cutting 2 percent from every government office’s budget.

According to the proposal, NIS 280 million will be invested in completing the fence on the Egyptian border and adding another segment near Eilat. In recent years, NIS 1.5 billion were invested in the fence, and 70 kilometers of it have already been built. Officials at the prime minister’s office said the entire fence – which will stretch for 240 kilometers – will be completed in less than a year.

The plan will also include enlarging the Saharonim detention center in Ketziot, which currently has the capacity to hold 2,000 detainees. After the construction is complete, it will be able to hold 5,000 detainees. The prime minister’s office said that the detention center “will allow holding illegal infiltrators for long periods of time in accordance with the law.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Netanyahu plans to invest NIS 250 million in constructing another holding center for infiltrators, which will hold people who cannot be returned to their home countries or to a third country. In this facility they will receive shelter, food and health services. Another NIS 100 million will be allocated to maintain the facility.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount