Friday, July 31st 2026 - 18:29 UTC
Spain's Interior Ministry put at around 50,000 the number who entered since Thursday and at 48,300 those who had already returned voluntarily to Morocco, according to its latest Friday update
Italy ordered the reintroduction of border checks at its ports and airports with Spain on Friday, and France announced it would increase fivefold the officers deployed at its land border from Saturday, after tens of thousands of people entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta irregularly from Morocco.
Spain's Interior Ministry put at around 50,000 the number who entered since Thursday and at 48,300 those who had already returned voluntarily to Morocco, according to its latest Friday update, with departures running at a rate the government placed at 150 people per minute. The Government Delegation in Ceuta raised the death toll to 57, a provisional count that rose through the day. Most died attempting to reach the coast by swimming. Ceuta has around 83,000 inhabitants and its services were overwhelmed; Spain deployed the Army.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni presented the decision as a temporary suspension of Schengen free movement on maritime and air connections with Spain, adopted, she said, to protect national security. Rome later clarified that the checks would be random and apply only to non-EU citizens.
