Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker and Defense Ministry Director-General Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Udi Shani on Sunday 25 Tammuz 5772 toured the holding facilities that the Defense Ministry is building in the Ketziot area in the south. The two men were accompanied by Migration and Population Authority Enforcement and Foreign Nationals Department Director Yossi Edelstein and senior Israel Prison Service (IPS) officials, who will be responsible for operating the facilities.

Defense Ministry Deputy Director-General and Operations and Assets Division Head Betzalel Treiber, who is responsible for the holding facilities construction project, updated the aforesaid officials as to the following:

* The first 1,000 holding places in the facilities will be transferred to the IPS at the start of next week. Work on the first section of the Nachal Raviv tent facility is now being completed and until next week’s transfer, will be furnished with all the necessary equipment for long-term stays (beds, mattresses, etc.); various public structures will be put in place including air-conditioned dining halls, multi-purpose shelters, employment training facilities, educational structures, houses of worship, a clinic, a barbershop, offices, etc.

* 3,000 additional holding places in the Nachal Raviv facility will be completed by mid-August.

* A permanent holding facility, being built by the Defense Ministry, will be completed by the end of the year. In the first stage, the facility will include 3,000 holding places in mobile structures, with an option to add several thousand more places within a short time.

Migration and Population Authority Enforcement and Foreign Nationals Department Director Edelstein noted that there has been a significant decline in the rate of infiltration into Israel:

* 195 infiltrators entered Israel since the beginning of the month (only 12 over the past weekend).

* 928 infiltrators entered Israel in June, as opposed to 2,000 in May and an average of 1,700 a month since the beginning of the year.

Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Locker said, “The Government’s actions are leading to results in the field. Building the fence, repatriating infiltrators to South Sudan and moving every infiltrator who crosses the border directly to holding facilities have led to a significant decline in the number of infiltrators. Since the start of the month, 195 infiltrators have arrived, as opposed to more than 900 in June and over 2,000 in May. Our plans for dealing with illegal labor infiltrators are working and we will continue to act on this issue.”

Defense Ministry Director-General Shani said, “The Defense Ministry, with its considerable experience in carrying out national projects within a short time, received this mission on instructions from the Prime Minister, and will do its utmost to complete the emergency plan as soon as possible. The Defense Ministry and the IDF, assisted by dozens of contractors, are working around the clock to complete the mission as professionally and efficiently as possible. Completing the facilities will lead to a situation in which every infiltrator who enters the country is moved directly to holding facilities, and stays there for a lengthy period, without reaching the cities throughout the country.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)