TUNIS: Tunisia’s coast guard on Monday recovered the bodies of eight African refugees who drowned after their boat sank off the country’s coast as it tried to cross the Mediterranean toward Europe. a security official told Reuters, adding that 29 other people were rescued.
The vessel sank in waters off the city of Abwabed near Sfax, a departure point often used by African migrants. Search operations were underway for survivors and 29 had been found alive, national guard officer Houssem Eddine Jebabli said. The refugees were “all foreigners,” including some from sub-Saharan Africa and others of different nationalities, he said.
Tunisia is grappling with an unprecedented migration crisis and has replaced Libya as a major departure point for both Tunisians and others in Africa seeking a better life in Europe. It is a key transit country for thousands of sub-Saharan refugees seeking to reach Europe by sea each year, with Italy’s island of Lampedusa only 150 kilometers away.
This month authorities began dismantling informal camps near Sfax holding thousands of migrants, mainly from Sub-Saharan African countries. With the EU’s mounting efforts to curb migrant arrivals, many refugees feel stranded in Tunisia.
Tunisia signed a $290 million deal with the EU In 2023, nearly half of it earmarked for tackling irregular migration. The deal, strongly supported by Italy’s hard-right government, aimed to bolster Tunisia's capacity to prevent boats leaving its shore.
Frontex, the EU's border agency, has said that irregular border crossings were down 64 percent last year until September for the central Mediterranean route.
Tragedy as another refugee boat sinks in the Mediterranean
https://arab.news/8cfbx
Tragedy as another refugee boat sinks in the Mediterranean
- Tunisia’s coast guard recovers bodies of eight African victims from sea, 29 survive
Israel defense minister vows to stay in Gaza, establish outposts
- His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday vowed Israel will remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts in the north of the Palestinian territory, according to a video of a speech published by Israeli media.
His remarks, reported across Israeli media, come as a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza.
Mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Speaking at an event in the Israeli settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, Katz said: “We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza — there will be no such thing.”
“We are there to protect, to prevent what happened (from happening again),” he added, according to a video published by Israeli news site Ynet.
Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005.
“When the time comes, God willing, we will establish in northern Gaza, Nahal outposts in place of the communities that were uprooted,” Katz said, referring to military-agricultural settlements set up by Israeli soldiers.
“We will do this in the right way and at the appropriate time.”
Katz’s remarks were slammed by former minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of “acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel’s national security.”
“While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, with the other hand it sells fables about isolated settlement nuclei in the (Gaza) Strip,” he wrote on X, referring to the Gaza peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump.
The next phases of Trump’s plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilization force.
It also envisages the demilitarization of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused.
On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.
