CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - A group of Ethiopian immigrants spent Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem to protest the conditions at the absorption center where the live.

The center, located on a kibbutz near the Jordan valley city of Beit She'an, is run by the Jewish Agency.

A few hours before Yom Kippur began, the agency provided several busses to transport the bulk of the demonstrators, which included some 100 young children, back to the absorption center after spending two cold nights sleeping on the street.

But 33 of the demonstrators chose to remain at their post during the Yom Kippur fast, unconvinced by a Jewish Agency announcement that the government would begin distributing emergency aid packages Sunday.

The 500 plus Ethiopian immigrants housed at the kibbutz have not received the small stipend provided by the government for the past several months.

The location of the kibbutz makes it difficult for them to find employment to supplement the government's allocation, so many of them don't have enough money to feed their children.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry confirmed that monthly stipends to the families had been delayed and they had received only a small advance.

Source: The Jerusalem Post