Hotline for Refugees and Migrants

Kigali, Rwanda. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Sent to Rwanda by Israel: ‘We have no food or work. Don’t come here’

Ahead of a mass planned deportation, +972 Magazine joins two members of Knesset on a trip to Rwanda and Uganda to investigate what happens to the asylum seekers Israel is sending there. The one thing that remained most elusive: a future for asylum seekers pushed out of Israel. By Oren Ziv KIGALI, Rwanda — A dark…

By Oren Ziv February 10, 2018

Mutasim Ali says goodbye to friends before being driven to Holot. (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

In first, Israel grants refugee status to Sudanese asylum seeker

Six years after he fled Darfur for Israel, Mutasim Ali, one of the leaders of the asylum seekers’ struggle in Israel, has been granted refugee status. Ali: ‘Now I can live a normal life with dignity.’ By Yael Marom Mutasim Ali was in the middle of his law school class when he learned that he…

By +972 Magazine June 24, 2016

Thousands of African asylum seekers leave Holot detention center without intention to come, June 25, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The farce of Israel’s ‘voluntary deportation’ policy

After fleeing Eritrea and being tortured in Egypt, the Israeli government gave Daniel two choices: either voluntarily deport yourself to Rwanda or go to prison. By Sigal Rozen “You see this one? When they’ll come to take everybody, this one I’ll hide in my home!” told me Yossi, owner of a shop in south Tel…

By +972 Magazine September 9, 2015

Latest

Sudanese asylum seekers sit in groups outside the gates of the Holot detention facility while they wait for the daily Ramadan fast to end, July 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Asylum seekers say Israeli authorities use food to pressure them

A new report by a refugee organization says the food Israeli prison authorities provide to African asylum seekers being detained in Holot does not meet their nutritional needs. During the Ramadan fast, the many restrictions on food in the ‘open’ facility make life even tougher on Muslim asylum seekers from Darfur. Some detainees say the…

By Activestills July 8, 2015

African asylum seekers walking towards the March For Freedom camp, Negev Desert, June 28, 2014. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

Uganda denies agreement with Israel on asylum seekers

The Ugandan government officially denies claims it has signed an agreement with Israel, whereby it would absorb forcefully deported Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers. The Israeli government has resisted calls to divulge the details of the agreements it had allegedly signed with ‘third countries.’ Government officials in Uganda deny there is any agreement with Israel…

By Mairav Zonszein April 29, 2015

T. photographed in Tel Aviv (R), and appearing in ISIS' execution video (L). (photo courtesy of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants)

ISIS executes three asylum seekers deported by Israel

Video by extremist Sunni group shows execution of three Eritrean asylum seekers coerced into leaving Israel last year. At least three Eritrean asylum seekers who lived in Israel and were deported to a third country were executed by Islamic State militants in Libya this past week, according to family and friends who recognized them in…

By Haggai Matar April 21, 2015

An activist with “Mothers Against Holot” holds a sign reading quoting from the biblical passage, “And you shall love [the strangers] as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt,” January 10, 2015, Tel Aviv. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Provide asylum seekers with heaters, rights groups demand in court

Following media reports and the intervention of two members of Knesset, the Israel Prison Service provided African asylum seekers with heating pads, which one asylum seeker says are inadequate. As temperatures drop below zero, Tel Aviv residents protest conditions at the Holot detention facility. By Yael Marom Two Israeli refugee rights organizations petitioned the High…

By +972 Magazine January 11, 2015