123 Sudanese refugees infilrate Israel from Egypt overnight

123 Sudanese refugees infiltrated Israel early Friday morning through the border with Egypt, on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson told Haaretz that the refugees entered Israel in small groups, at different locations along the border.

Haim Yellin, head of Eshkol Regional Council, expressed his anxiety about the ease with which people are able to cross the border into Israel.

"The border with Egypt is porous and invites into Israel people who are undesirable," he said.

2,810 asylum seekers have crossed the border over the last four months from Egypt into Israel. Israel Prisons Service's Keztiot detention facility currently accommodates 800 of them.

Elisheva Milikovsky, who has volunteered to work with the Sudanese refugees, told Haaretz recently that there are some 2,600 asylum seekers residing in the Tel Aviv area, of which hundreds live in shelters, and some 6,000 nationwide.

	Sudanese refugees in Ketziot prison in October last year (Alberto Dankberg)