Since its establishment in 1948, the state of Israel has defined itself as a country of Jewish immigration (Aliyah). Authorities have actively encouraged the migration of Jewish communities to Israel, promoting the country as a safe haven for Jews worldwide. This has prompted numerous waves of immigrants and refugees to the country, most recently Ukrainian Jews escaping Russia’s invasion. This immigration has been facilitated by the country’s 1950 Law of Return, which states: “Every Jew has the right to come to this country as an oleh” (Article 1). This law has since been amended to provide citizenship to any child, grandchild, spouse, spouse of a child, and spouse of a grandchild of a Jew (Amendment No.2, 1970).
Despite ratifying the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, Israel has never incorporated the convention into its legislation. While the country embraces the arrival of Jewish immigrants, other migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are excluded from the rights set out in the Law of Return. Instead, they face significant barriers in entering, and remaining, in the country, and the country is notorious for rejecting nearly all asylum applications. Instead, the state offers “collective protection” from deportation to citizens of certain countries, such as Eritrea and Sudan, and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine. However, this is not the same as granting refugee status: those under collective protection are granted temporary stay permits (pursuant to Article 2(a)(5) of the Entry into Israel Law), which must be periodically renewed until conditions allow for them to return.
Since the mid 2000s, when Israel experienced a new wave of immigration comprised of asylum seekers from various African states (principally Eritrea and Sudan), authorities have steadily sought to restrict entry to non-nationals and to remove foreigners from the country.
Detention has served as a key tool within the State Party’s efforts to control unwanted immigration, and authorities have regularly used it to “persuade” foreigners to leave the country, or to act as a deterrent against would-be asylum seekers and migrants. This was made clear by the Chair of the Special Committee on Foreign Workers when, during a March 2023 visit to Yahalom Detention Centre, he said: “We have to think about how to dry the swamp, not how to kill the mosquito. We shouldn’t make life easy for them, we should make them want to leave Israel.”
Detention provisions are set out in both the 1952 Entry into Israel Law and the 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law. As of 2025, Israel operates two immigration detention facilities: Givon Detention Centre (in Ramla) and the Yahalom Detention Centre at Ben Gurion Airport, which is temporarily closed while it undergoes renovations. According to data published by the Ministry of Justice, Israel detained and deported 11,439 migrants between 2022 to 2024: 2,657 in 2022, 5,004 in 2023 and 3,778 in 2024.
In this submission to the UN Committee against Torture, the GDP and Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (HRM) highlight key concerns regarding the country’s detention of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, as well as wider issues related to the treatment of these groups, including:
- New and proposed legislation which would dramatically impact the rights of non-nationals, including by providing for unlimited administrative detention (the Basic Law: Entry, Immigration, and Status in Israel) and permit the deportation of Eritreans, despite their protection under the principle of non-refoulement (the Bill for the Immediate Deportation of Infiltrators Who Support the Regime in Their Country of Origin or Committed Crimes in Israel).
- The continued detention of at-risk groups including trafficking victims, children, asylum seekers, and those with mental health conditions.
- Repeated criticisms of detention conditions in Givon Prison and Yahalom Detention Facility (and the use of ad hoc locations in Ben Gurion Airport while Yahalom undergoes renovations).
- Excessive detention periods, and instances of “re-detention.”
- The continued detention of non-nationals during the Iran-Israel war in June 2025, without the provision of adequate protections.
- The country’s multi-tier protection system, as evidenced by its treatment of Ukrainian refugees.
- The limited support afforded to foreign survivors of the 7 October Hamas attack–including authorities’ failure to provide psychological or financial assistance, and lack of supervision to ensure migrant workers were not sent to work in areas experiencing frequent shelling.
- Evidence of pushbacks at the Jordanian border.
