Tunisia Facing Unprecedented Migration Crisis

Migrants navigate on a metal boat as they are spotted by Tunisian coast guards at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
Migrants navigate on a metal boat as they are spotted by Tunisian coast guards at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
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Tunisia Facing Unprecedented Migration Crisis

Migrants navigate on a metal boat as they are spotted by Tunisian coast guards at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui
Migrants navigate on a metal boat as they are spotted by Tunisian coast guards at sea during their attempt to cross to Italy, off Sfax, Tunisia April 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui

Bodies of drowned migrants wash up most days on Tunisian beaches, lie unclaimed in hospital corridors and fill morgues, evidence of a surge in people seeking to cross the Mediterranean that has been accelerated by a government crackdown.

Coastguard patrols return to the port of Sfax crammed with migrants stopped at sea in flimsy, overcrowded boats from making the perilous voyage to what they hope will be a better life in Europe.

The number of migrants embarking upon the Mediterranean has risen overall, but the number leaving Tunisia has exploded, with more caught by coastguard patrols than in any previous year, senior National Guard official Houssem Eddine Jebabli said.

The Coastguard told Reuters it has stopped 17,000 people at sea in the first four months of 2023, compared to 3,000 in the same period of 2022.

The numbers spiked after a crackdown on migrants from Sub-Saharan African countries in February that President Kais Saied announced using language the African Union condemned as racialized. Many migrants reported suffering racist attacks.

"Let us go! Your president expelled us but now you are stopping us leaving," shouted a man from the Ivory Coast, who gave his name as Ibrahim, taken aboard a Coastguard ship with his wife and two infant children after they were stopped at sea.

"We were evicted from our home, people threw stones at our house," he said, explaining why they had to leave Tunisia. His comments were echoed by other African migrants Reuters met after their boats were intercepted.

Within minutes of Reuters boarding Coastguard Ship 3505 in Sfax, the captain registered a likely migrant boat on the radar on a course for Italy's Lampedusa island, the main migrant destination.

Over the following hours, Reuters watched the Coastguard stop five boats and track four others it did not have time to chase.

As the crammed boats emerged in the darkness, some with children on board, some migrants begged to be left to continue their voyage. Others tried to resist or evade capture.

On one boat, Reuters saw migrants throwing metal bars at the Coastguard, fighting them with sticks and threatening to throw themselves into the sea. On another, the Coastguard disabled the engine by smashing it with poles.

The tactic of smashing engines has been criticized by migrant rights groups who say some boats have been left rudderless at sea, prey to the waves and in danger of sinking.

Jebabli, the National Guard official, denied imperiling migrants and said Coastguards were increasingly threatened at sea when stopping migrant boats.

Back on the main ship, the captain fired a weapon into the air trying to quell a protest by 200 migrants on board as many angrily demanded to be allowed to go on to Italy.

Some threw confiscated boat engines at the 10 Coastguards on board. Others threatened to set themselves on fire. One man jumped into the sea and was hauled out.

The cost of an illicit voyage is falling as migrants rely less on Tunisian fishing boats and buy their own metal craft made cheaply and meant for only a single journey.

Passage to Italy was previously 5,000 dinars ($1,600) but is now only 1,000 dinars, a police official said, with migrants evenly splitting the cost of the boat and engine.

It costs only 2,000 dinars to make a metal boat that can be sold for 20,000 and ever more people near the coast are doing so, a resident of Sfax's Jebiniana district said, showing Reuters houses that had recently been used for the purpose.

Migrants Reuters interviewed coming off the Coastguard boats said they would try to cross again soon.

But on a stretch of Sfax coastline Reuters saw five bodies that had washed up, one a young boy in jeans and a white T-shirt. The Coastguard recovered four others nearby.

The main city hospital was storing 200 bodies, most outside the small morgue lying stacked in bags on the corridor floors.

Patients complain of the terrible smell. "We cannot bear it anymore," said a nurse.

Regional health chief Hatem Cherif said authorities would build a new cemetery for migrants. "We bury dozens every day," he said.



Sara Netanyahu: The Ever-Present Wife of Israel’s Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
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Sara Netanyahu: The Ever-Present Wife of Israel’s Prime Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2-L), his wife Sara Netanyahu (L), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2-R) and his wife Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth (R) participate in a welcome ceremony at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 09 July 2025. (EPA)

Whether dining opposite US President Donald Trump or accompanying her husband on an official Pentagon visit, Sara Netanyahu's front-row role in Washington this week has sparked fresh questions over her place in Israeli politics.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's third wife and the mother of two of his children, Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband.

"My wife and I..." is a phrase often used by the Israeli premier in his official statements, helping to cement Sara's position at the forefront of public life.

This week, as the prime minister visited Washington for a series of high-level meetings in which he discussed a potential Gaza ceasefire deal with the US president, his wife was noticeably present.

On Tuesday, she was photographed sitting opposite Trump at an official dinner following a meeting between the two leaders.

Two days later, she appeared next to her husband, as well as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they arrived for meetings at the Pentagon.

But speculation had swirled even before the Netanyahus' departure for Washington.

On the eve of the trip, the prime minister's office announced the resignation of his spokesman Omer Dostri.

A few hours later, following media reports claiming that his wife had been involved in the decision, another statement was issued denying she had any role.

Sara Netanyahu has been the subject of several investigations, including for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, and has also been questioned in connection with her husband's ongoing graft trial.

Married to Benjamin Netanyahu since 1991, the 66-year-old is the target of frequent media attacks which are regularly denounced by her husband.

She has been caricatured in satirical programs for her fashion choices or her profession as a child psychologist, which she has often appeared to boast about.

But above all, she has been targeted for her alleged interference in state affairs.

- 'The real prime minister' -

In a video released in December 2024, Netanyahu denied that his wife was involved in his cabinet appointments or that she was privy to state secrets.

It followed an investigation into Sara Netanyahu aired by Israel's Channnel 12 which the prime minister slammed as a "witch hunt".

In 2021, a former senior official said he had seen a contract signed by the Netanyahus stipulating that Sara had a say in the appointment of Israeli security chiefs.

To that claim, the prime minister's office responded with a brief statement denouncing "a complete lie". The official lost a libel suit brought against him by the Netanyahus' lawyer.

And when the prime minister appointed David Zini as the new head of Israel's Shin Bet security service in May, Israeli journalists once again pointed to the possible influence of Sara Netanyahu, who is thought to be close to Zini's entourage.

Almost two years since the start of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, Sara Netanyahu seems to have established herself as more indispensable than ever, with some even attributing her with increasing influence on strategic issues.

In May, when Sara Netanyahu corrected the number of living Gaza hostages given by her husband during a recorded meeting with the captives' families, speculation swirled that she had access to classified information.

Journalist and Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit went as far as to describe Sara Netanyahu as the "real prime minister".

"It has become public knowledge. It is an integral part of our lives... we are normalizing the fact that someone has dismantled the leadership of the state in favor of chaotic, family-based management," Caspit said in an opinion piece published on the website of the Maariv newspaper.

In an interview with US news outlet Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu described his wife as a "wonderful partner" and praised her help over the years.