FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2018 file photo, asylum seekers protest against deportation in Tel Aviv, Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Monday, April 2, 2018, that it has reached an agreement with the United Nations to scrap plans to deport African asylum seekers and will resettle many in Western countries instead. Israel said it reached an "unprecedented understandings" with the U.N. refugee agency in which Israel will send more than 16,000 migrants to various Western countries willing to absorb them. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)
April 02, 2018 - 1:51 PM
JERUSALEM - The latest on Israel's negotiations with the United Nations on resettling tens of thousands of African migrants in Western nations (all times local):
11:45 p.m.
Israel's prime minister says he has suspended an agreement with the U.N. to resettle African migrants in Western countries, just hours after unveiling the agreement on national TV.
In a Facebook post, Netanyahu says he will discuss the deal with Israeli residents of south Tel Aviv on Tuesday. He adds that in the meantime, "I am suspending the implementation of the agreement, and after meeting with the representatives I will re-examine the agreement again."
Tens of thousands of Africans have settled in south Tel Aviv, angering longtime residents of the working-class area.
Under Monday's deal, roughly half the 35,000 migrants living in Israel would be resettled in the West. But the others would stay in Israel.
Israeli hardliners have criticized the deal for allowing so many Africans to remain.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018