12 Tunisian Migrants Dead, 29 Others Rescued as Boat Sinks Off Tunisia

A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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12 Tunisian Migrants Dead, 29 Others Rescued as Boat Sinks Off Tunisia

A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
A Red Cross volunteer transfers two migrants to a tent to be attended after disembarking from a Spanish coast guard vessel, in the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

At least 12 Tunisians were found dead and 29 others were rescued after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of the southeastern island of Djerba on Monday, a judicial official said, according to AFP.

“Twelve bodies were recovered and 29 people were rescued after their boat sank at dawn on Monday,” Medenine court spokesman Fethi Baccouche said, adding that five men and four women were among the dead, and that the cause of the sinking remained unknown.

Baccouche said the search for the missing, the number of whom was not specified, is still underway.

The boat set sail from the island of Djerba, he noted, adding that an investigation has been launched to determine the causes of death.

The Tunisian National Guard said it was alerted by four migrants who swam back ashore.

Most of the migrants were Tunisian nationals, accompanied by two foreign migrants.

Tunisia and neighboring Libya have become key departure points for migrants seeking better lives in Europe, often risking dangerous Mediterranean crossings.

Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing, with Italy — whose Lampedusa island is only 150 km away — often their first port of call.

Last Wednesday, Tunisian authorities announced that the bodies of 13 irregular migrants of African descent had been recovered off the coast of the city of Mahdia in the eastern part of the country.

More than 1,300 people died or disappeared last year in shipwrecks off Tunisia, according to the rights group Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.

Since January 1 until mid-May, at least 103 makeshift boats have capsized off Tunisia's coast, the country’s interior ministry said.

During the first four months of this year, the ministry said it saved and prevented 21,545 migrants from crossing the sea to Europe, an increase of approximately 22.5% year-on-year.

The International Organization for Migration has said more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.