At its highest point, there were some 65,000 illegal immigrants in Israel. Over the past decade, the Population and Immigration Authority says it has received 54,600 requests for asylum. Only 33 have been accepted. Tens of thousands remain mired in the bureaucratic process, though Israeli leaders say they have added staff to clear the backlog.
That makes Israel's rate of granting asylum among the lowest in the Western world.
In comparison, through the first three quarters of 2017, nearly 90% of asylum seekers in the European Union were granted refugee status, according to a compilation of data from Eurostat, the EU's data compilation site. More than 60% of asylum seekers from Sudan were granted similar status.
This story has been updated to correct the timeline around the departure of the first 6,000 migrants.