Spain reports 72 deaths as the Ceuta migrant crisis deepens, with intelligence officials saying Morocco allowed border controls to gradually relax.

People in Ceuta, Spain, walk toward the country's border with Morocco July 31, 2026, leaving Spain amid mass crossings of migrants on foot and by sea from Morocco into Spanish territory. The Diocese of Cádiz and Ceuta offered emergency resources to civil authorities July 31 as more than 40,

RABAT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Spanish authorities should have anticipated the consequences of a court ruling that weakened a key deterrent against illegal migration and contributed ​to last week's mass crossings into the enclave of Ceuta in ‌northern Morocco, a senior Moroccan official said on Monday.

Video captures thousands of migrants stampeding through Ceuta as Spain's government denies the enclave president's request for a national emergency.

Most of the migrants who forced their way across the frontier into Spain have gone back to Morocco. In the enclave city, shops are open nearly a week after it became the epicenter of a European migration crisis.

Moroccan authorities have blamed the recent migration influx that saw some 60,000 people pour into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on social media and human trafficking. Last week’s surge was not due to “spontaneous circumstances or circumstantial factors” but a “malicious exploitation of digital space and the activity of human trafficking networks,

Beyond the local political complexities in the Maghreb, Cymerman believes the refugee crisis is only set to intensify.

Rabat said its figures only reflect migrants who died while attempting to rush into Spain's north African exclave, but are working with Spanish authorities to identify all fatalities, including those in Ceuta.