Israel has announced having reversed its plan of expelling African asylum seers to African countries and is now to send over 16,000 of them to Western countries. This latest plan is agreed with the UN agency for refugees.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the press over the weekend that Canada, Germany and Italy are among the countries that may welcome the asylum seekers. However, he added that the plan is not formally accepted by all the supposed destination countries.

Many of the rest of the 'migrants' who are said to have reached Israel 'illegally' will be allowed to stay in that country at least for the coming five years.

UNHCR office confirmed the existence of such agreement without disclosing the names of the welcoming countries. However, German and Italian spokespersons said their respective countries were not aware of the agreement. On the other hand, a Canadian Immigration Ministry spokesperson confirmed his country's agreement with Israel about not expelling those asylum seekers until their sponsorship applications to enter Canada are processed. Some 1,840 sponsorship to Canada were reportedly registered till end of 2017.

It is to be recalled that an EPDP leadership delegation arrived in Israel on 31 March 2018, and many Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel are reportedly referring to the delegation as "a mission coming with good tidings" - “ርሑሳትኣእጋር!!”