Egyptian authorities arrested on Wednesday seven African nationals attempting to illegally cross the border from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into Israel, security sources said, DPA reported.
The group of would-be-immigrants was spotted near the border by a police patrol in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police fired warning shots into the air.
Four of the detained migrants are from Sudan, and three are from Ethiopia, according to authorities.
The migrants admitted they had paid Bedouin smugglers to help them enter Israel, where they hoped to find work, they added.
Large numbers of migrants attempt to cross the porous border between Israel and Egypt's Sinai peninsula each year.
The 255 kilometre-long border is guarded by no more than 750 Egyptian policemen, as stipulated by the 1979 Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel.
Egypt has been criticized by human rights organisations for frequently shooting and killing migrants in order to prevent them from crossing the border.