The Israeli government will release about 200 jailed Africans following a breakdown in a deal with Rwanda and Uganda to deport them and thousands more Eritrean and Sudanese who entered the country illegally.
Israel has been trying to finalize an agreement with Uganda to take the migrants in, who are reported to have come in through the Egyptian border over the past decade.
Most of the 200 men set for release were sent to a desert prison in recent months to await deportation to Uganda.
The Israeli government says the 37,000 migrants in Israel are job seekers and that it has every right to protect its borders. The migrants and rights groups say they are seeking asylum and are fleeing war and persecution.
About 4,000 migrants have left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda since 2013 under a voluntary programme, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from his right-wing voter base to expel thousands more.
On Friday Uganda acknowledged for the first time that it was in talks to take in some 500 migrants, though it said it would only accept people who left voluntarily and not by forced deportation.
Israel in January gave the migrants three months to take the voluntary deal with a plane ticket and $3,500 or risk being jailed until they are deported.
Israel’s Supreme Court, however, has issued temporary injunctions to give more time for petitioners to argue against the plan.
