Sawt Falasteen - Thousands cross into Spain's north Africa enclave in new migrant crisis

In recent days, a total of around 40,000 migrants have crossed into the territory -- population 80,000 -- the source added.

The sudden massive influx has sparked a crisis for Spain's government and prompted France to announce tighter checks on its border with Spain.

Madrid has sent troops to boost security in Ceuta. Sanchez and his interior minister were due to visit the enclave's Tarajal border on Friday, the government said.

AFP reporters have seen hundreds of people -- men, women and children -- entering Ceuta by swimming around a border barrier with Morocco to enter the Spanish exclave, discarding flotation rings and clothes used in the risky passage.

So far, 18 people have died attempting to reach the Spanish enclave, the police source said.

"There was a steady stream of people all night long," the source said, adding that migrants "continued to arrive overnight and are still arriving" early Friday.

It was not immediately clear what has prompted the recent surge of migrants from Morocco.

In 2021, thousands crossed to take advantage of Rabat loosening border controls during a diplomatic dispute with Spain.

Already the Cueta scenes of the surge in migrants were causing diplomatic fallout.

Italy on Thursday called for Spain to be suspended from Europe's open-borders Schengen zone, prompting Spain to summon Italy's ambassador and accuse Rome of using the crisis for political gain.

Two top officials within US President Donald Trump's White House on Thursday also reiterated their anti-immigration politics using video of Ceuta.

- 'Bye Morocco' -

Ceuta, a territory of 18.5 square kilometres (seven square miles), and similar enclave Melilla have Europe's only two land borders with Africa.

Ebullient migrants on Thursday were walking through the streets of Ceuta, thanking the Spanish police and calling out: "Bye bye Morocco, hello Spain."

Police and Civil Guards in Ceuta appeared to do little to intervene, although some officers attempted to direct the arrivals to the local migrant reception centre.

Morocco's authorities had not yet issued an official statement on the flow of migrants, but a Moroccan official source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the two countries had spoken about the matter.

In 2021, more than 10,000 migrants reached Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco over the course of two days, taking advantage of a loosening of border controls by Rabat during a crisis between the two countries.

That dispute erupted after Spain decided to host the leader of the Sahrawi independence movement, the Polisario Front, for medical treatment.

Polisario guerillas fought a long war with Morocco over independence of the Western Sahara region. Morocco's neighbour Algeria had supported the Polisario group.

That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its long-standing policy of neutrality and backed Morocco's plan for Western Sahara-- a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algiers.

Sanchez visited Algiers on July 20 -- the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years -- marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.

R.Halabi--SF-PST