Hundreds of Sudanese citizens living in Israel on Sunday held a protest against plans by Interior Minister Eli Yishai to imprison and expel some 15,000 asylum seekers -- starting October 15.

Demonstrators held signs reading "We are refugees, not infiltrators," "We're all human beings -- where is the Jewish morality?" and "We're not criminals -- why are we being put in jail?"

Calling on the United Nations' Human Rights Council (HRC) to intercede matters on their behalf, the protesters also called for a thorough and individual review of every request for refugee status.

"We are not criminals, so there is no reason to put us in jail, " Jacob Berry, a Sudanese asylum-seeker, told Xinhua Sunday.

"We got here to escape the famine, the war and not to look for jobs. We escaped from there, we have nothing to do there except to die. We are not criminals," he added.

On Sunday, however, the minister asserted that the program would continue until the last of the migrants and illegal infiltrators were either repatriated or sent to a third country.

"My responsibility is not to take care of African citizens, but rather to take care of the state of Israel's citizens," Yishai said, according to Army radio.

According to several official estimates, some 60,000 African asylum seekers live in Israel, many from South Sudan and Eritrea.

In May, Yishai embarked on his "going home" repatriation plan, as part of which some 2,000 South Sudanese refugees were sent back to South Sudan.

Yishai also recently announced the planned lockup of tens of thousands of other asylum seekers, until their requests for refuge are assessed.

On Thursday, the Jerusalem District Court, which accepted the petition of several human rights organizations, imposed an injunction against the project.

The petitioners charged that the Prevention of Infiltration law does not enable the Interior Minister to decide upon arrests, which is the job of the Defense Minister.

The petition protested what they referred to as a " discriminatory, arbitrary and unjust" plan which "violates basic rights and is extreme and severe."

Yishai would not be able to carry out the planned imprisonment plan until the court's final verdict.

Recently, local news outlets reported that a family of Sudanese labor migrants, expelled in recent months from Israel back to South Sudan, lost two of its children upon their return and are battling the life of their third kid.

Niakor and Michael De Bol lost their infant son Nian due to malaria last month. Noah, who also died from the disease, was born with a heart defect and treated in Israel.

Another boy, Sunday, is currently in critical condition at the hospital after contracting malaria, too.