ISRAEL will expel 400 native-born children of non-Jewish foreign workers to help safeguard the country's Jewish identity.

Migrant advocacy groups responded angrily, arguing that the decision would punish innocent children by sending them back to impoverished nations their parents left in search of better lives in Israel.

Announcing the decision on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the policy was also aimed at halting the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border with Egypt.

''On the one hand, this problem is a humanitarian problem, we all feel and understand the hearts of children,'' Mr Netanyahu said. ''But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel.''

Under the new rules, children born to foreign workers who entered Israel legally, and who have lived in Israel for five years or more, speak Hebrew and are enrolled in an Israeli school, will be eligible for permanent residency.