Israel said on Monday it has scrapped a plan to deport African migrants to Africa and reached an agreement with the U.N. refugee agency to send more than 16,000 to Western countries instead, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Canada, Italy and Germany as some of the nations that will take in the migrants - although they appeared not to have been informed of the plan yet.
Other migrants in Israel, many of whom are seeking asylum, will be allowed to remain in the country, which they entered illegally on foot through the border with Egypt, for at least the next five years.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement confirmed an agreement was signed with Israel, but did not name the countries that would accept the migrants.
But a spokesman for the German Interior Ministry said he was unaware of any plans to resettle African migrants from Israel to Germany.
And in Italy, a Foreign Ministry source said: “There is no agreement with Italy in the context of the bilateral agreement between Israel and the UNHCR.”
The fate of some 37,000 Africans in Israel has posed a moral dilemma for a state founded as a haven for Jews from persecution and a national home. The right-wing government has been under pressure from its nationalist voter base to expel the migrants.
But the planned mass deportation led to legal challenges in Israel, drew criticism from the United Nations and rights groups and triggered an emotional public debate among Israelis.
In February, Israeli authorities started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave for a third country in Africa or risk being put in jail indefinitely.
Teklit Michael, who came to Israel from Eritrea a decade ago, said he was delighted by the new deal.
“I saw in the past few years a lot of people lose their hopes because of that deportation to an unsafe place,” said Michael, 29.