Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday suspended a resettlement deal for African migrants faced with deportation, just hours after his office announced the agreement with the UN refugee agency.
"I've decided to suspend implementation of this accord and to rethink the terms of the accord," Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page, saying his move was in response to criticism of the deal.
Israel had announced a deal with the UNHCR to cancel a controversial plan to deport African migrants and replace it with one that would see thousands sent to Western countries.
The new accord would allow thousands more of the mainly Sudanese and Eritrean migrants to remain in Israel at least temporarily.
Netanyahu said he would meet on Tuesday with residents of southern Tel Aviv, where many of the African migrants have settled, after they issued a statement condemning the new deal as "a shame for the state of Israel".
Several ministers also said they opposed the accord with the UNHCR of which they had not been informed before it had been announced by Netanyahu's office.
Netanyahu had said earlier that the new deal would see a minimum of 16,250 migrants resettled in Western nations including Canada, Germany and Italy.
"The agreement stipulates that for each migrant who leaves the country, we commit to give temporary residence status to another," he said in a televised address.
Germany and Italy, however, said they were unaware of any such resettlement deal for African migrants from Israel.
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP
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