Last update - 00:00 24/06/2007
Body of Sudanese refugee shot dead in Egypt found near Eilat
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Border Police found the body of a Sudanese refugee Sunday morning on the Israel-Egypt border near Eilat.
The troops discovered the body while on a regular patrol in the area. The refugee had apparently been shot while he was within Egyptian territory, had then managed to cross the border into Israel where he subsequently collapsed and died.
The IDF said the man was not shot by Israeli forces. The incident is still being investigated.
Earlier Sunday 35 refugees from Sudan, Eritrea and Ivory Coast were caught attempting to infiltrate into Israel from Egypt.
Every night the IDF and Border Police catch dozens of refugees illegally entering Israel.
Last week, Sharon Harel, a representative of the Israeli branch of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said Israel must not send Sudanese refugees back to Egypt, the country from which they generally enter Israel illegally.
Harel told a joint session of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers and the Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child that Egypt would deport the refugees to Sudan, where their lives would be at risk particularly after having spent time in Israel, which does not have diplomatic relations with the predominantly Muslim country.
The session was held in honor of World Refugee Day.
Despite Harel's warning, MK Avishay Braverman (Labor), who heads the Knesset lobby for Darfur refugees, said Israel will have no choice but to deport them.