Jerusalem (CNN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he was suspending a plan to send thousands of migrants to three Western countries, putting the brakes on a decision he had announced only hours earlier.

Netanyahu said on his Facebook page that the deal would be re-examined. He had come under heavy criticism for the agreement by members of his coalition and citizens of a south Tel Aviv community where a large migrant community lives.

Under the plan, made with the United Nations Refugee Agency, Israel was to send at least 16,250 African migrants to Canada, Italy and Germany. Netanyahu had said earlier Monday that the agreement was the result of an "unprecedented understanding" with the UNHCR.

The plan allowed for thousands of other African migrants to stay in Israel.

There are approximately 37,000 illegal immigrants in Israel, the majority from Eritrea or Sudan, according to the Population and Immigration Authority.

African migrants demonstrate with their hands crossed outside the Embassy of Rwanda in the Israeli city of Herzliya on February 7, 2018.

Read More