The Holot detention center or Holot prison was a facility of the

Israel Prison Service The Israel Prison Service (, ''Sherut Batei HaSohar'', , ''Idārat al-Sujūn al-Isrā’īlīyyah''), known in Israel by its acronym Shabas () or IPS in English, is the state (polity), state agency responsible for overseeing prisons in Israel. It ...

established to detain and hold

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

from

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

who had been living in Israel after having entered through the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

border prior to the building of the Egypt-Israel barrier in 2013. The facility was opened on December 12, 2013, about two kilometers from the Israel-Egypt border, near

Ktzi'ot Prison Ktzi'ot Prison (, ) is an Israeli detention facility located in the Negev desert south-west of Beersheba. It is Israel's largest detention facility in terms of land area, encompassing . During the First Intifada, Ktzi'ot was the location of ...

and Saharonim Prison. As countries are prohibited under international law from expelling asylum-seekers who have already reached another nation, Israel established Holot as a way to coerce them into requesting to be deported from Israel. The facility included three wings, each of which housed 1,120 inmates, and an administrative wing. In September 2014, the

Supreme Court of Israel The Supreme Court of Israel (, Hebrew acronym Bagatz; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction. The Supreme Court consists of 15 jud ...

ruled that Holot should be closed, on the grounds that it infringed on the

human right Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

of "human dignity": “infiltrators do not lose one ounce of their right to human dignity just because they reached the country in this way or another.” After almost four years, on March 14, 2018, the facility was finally closed.

References

Immigration detention centers and prisons {{Prison-stub