Tel Aviv: More than 30,000 African asylum seekers have protested in Tel Aviv, in the biggest rally ever staged by migrants in the Jewish state.

"More than 30,000 demonstrators marched peacefully in Tel Aviv," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said on Sunday.

On the streets: More than 30,000 African asylum seekers took part in the rally. Credit:Getty Images

Gathered in the coastal city's central Rabin Square, the protesters criticised Israel's refusal to give them refugee status and the detention without trial of hundreds of asylum seekers.

They chanted "We are all refugees" and "Yes to freedom, no to prison!", with Israeli rights activists also joining the march.