RAFAH, Egypt: Eleven Sudanese including three children were intercepted at the Egypt-Israel border on Friday while trying to cross illegally into the Jewish state, Egyptian security officials said.
The 11, on board a truck, were arrested by police about a dozen kilometers south of the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip.
Among those detained were four women and three children aged between one and four years.
Last month more than 220 Africans – mostly Sudanese – were arrested while trying to cross Egypt s border with Israel, a top security official said.
Most were refugees from Sudan s war-torn Darfur region, where civil war has raged since 2003, who wanted to work in Israel or claim political asylum there.
In a bid to counter the influx, Israel has said people crossing the border illegally will be sent back to Egypt. But it has also said it would help a small number of asylum-seekers from Darfur.
The United Nations says that of the 1,200 Sudanese currently in Israel, 300 are from Darfur.
