After close to two weeks at sea, Italy has allowed charity rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 to bring the over 350 migrants it has on board to Sicily. Meanwhile, the aunt of famous Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, who drowned in 2015 trying to reach Greece, pleaded not to "turn our back" on refugees.
The German frigate "Hamburg" set sail from Wilhelmshaven in the north of Germany on August 4. It is expected to reach its Mediterranean patrol zone off the Libyan coast by mid-August. The boat will be part of the EU operation Irini, designed to help enforce a UN weapons embargo on Libya in the hope of stabilizing the country.
Tunisian authorities intercepted various boats heading towards Europe on Tuesday, blocking hundreds of migrants from travelling towards Italy. However, Tunisians meanwhile continued to arrive on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The German NGO Sea-Watch has recently acquired a new aircraft in cooperation with the Swiss Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI). The aircraft, which has been named Seabird, will be used for civil air reconnaissance missions off the coast of Libya, from where hundreds of migrants depart on makeshift boats to Europe every week . The new aircraft is an addition to the Moonbird, which has been active since 2017.
Tunisian authorities in the course of two days blocked nine departures of at least 200 migrants who wanted to irregularly reach Italian coasts.
After 28 migrants tested positive for the coronavirus, the Italian interior ministry has asserted that there is no health risk for the rest of the country because they have been quarantined. The COVID-19 positive migrants were among 211 people rescued by NGO Sea-Watch last week.
The NGO ship Ocean Viking rescued 118 migrants in the Mediterranean in two separate operations on Thursday. Meanwhile, rescue ship Alan Kurdi has been released by Italian authorities but is not yet ready to set off on a new mission.
36 migrants from Iran and Afghanistan, traveling from Turkey, were rescued off the coast of Lesbos on Sunday. The migrants were taken to Petra port on the island where they were tested for the novel coronavirus, and then taken into quarantine.
Members of the S&D group in the EU parliament have called on the European Commision to create a permanent mechanism for migrant search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.
The NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans launched its eighth migrant rescue mission at sea on Tuesday. Their Mare Ionio boat left the Trapani port and is heading for the central Mediterranean.
The government of Malta has signed an agreement with Libya to combat irregular immigration across the Mediterranean. The Maltese-funded plans involve the setting up of coordination centers in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the Maltese capital Valletta.
Tunisia prevented several departures of migrants to Italy at the start of the week, officials say. But Tunisian migrants continue to arrive on Italian shores: 71 migrants made it to the Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday.