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Iran Funds Homes in Gaza

A general view shows the water border line betwen Israel and the Gaza Strip as it is seen from the Israeli side near Zikim. Reuters file photo
A general view shows the water border line betwen Israel and the Gaza Strip as it is seen from the Israeli side near Zikim. Reuters file photo
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Iran Funds Homes in Gaza

A general view shows the water border line betwen Israel and the Gaza Strip as it is seen from the Israeli side near Zikim. Reuters file photo
A general view shows the water border line betwen Israel and the Gaza Strip as it is seen from the Israeli side near Zikim. Reuters file photo

Hamas said Thursday it had allocated new homes funded by Iran in the Gaza Strip to former Palestinian prisoners who had been held in Israeli jails.

The prisoners ministry said 26 apartments in a new building in southern Gaza Khan Younes had been given out in a lottery between 125 former Palestinian prisoners, Agence France Presse reported.

Officials from Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said the program was the first of its kind funded by Iran.

A second building will be constructed in northern Gaza, the ministry said, adding the project aimed to "reduce the suffering of our freed prisoners."

Iran has long been a strong backer of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, providing them with funds, weapons and training.

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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.
On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Overall deaths rose 58% compared to last year, the report added, according to The Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The organization compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead. April and May were the deadliest months, the report said.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a “sharp increase” in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canary Islands.
In February, Spain pledged 210 million euros (around $218 million) in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and prevent boats from taking off.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57, 700 migrants reached Spain by boat until Dec. 15 this year, a roughly 12% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority of them came through the Atlantic route.