Although calm is gradually returning to the Ceuta border, many local residents still feel anxious amid ongoing fears about illegal migration.
Spain's government said around 2,000 undocumented migrants remain in Ceuta, while local authorities estimate the number could be as high as 3,000 to 5,000.
On Tuesday, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that around 70,000 of the roughly 72,000 migrants who crossed into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta from Morocco last week have since returned to Morocco.
In response to the border crisis, Spain has installed a 500-meter-long pneumatic barrier in the waters between Ceuta and Morocco. The barrier stands 30 to 70 centimeters above water and extends about a meter below, aiming to create a physical boundary at sea for law enforcement to better manage the situation.
According to Spain's Guardia Civil officers stationed at one of the main border gates, many of the migrants who entered Ceuta illegally in recent days have largely returned to Morocco through this gate, and the area has now returned to relative calm.
Among those who recently crossed is 23-year-old Abdul Karim, who, along with friends, swam for over three hours from Morocco last weekend before reaching Ceuta. For now, he is sheltering in a temporary city center facility, waiting to learn what comes next.
"We want to go to mainland Spain to work. It's hard to find jobs in Morocco, so we hope to find work in Spain. Swimming here was very difficult. At one point, I thought I was going to drown. Some people just disappeared while trying to swim across," he said.
In the center of Ceuta, some shops have reopened for business, but many storefronts remain shuttered and police patrols are still a common sight. For this city, which relies heavily on cross-border trade, port logistics, and tourism, the impact of the migrant crisis is likely to linger for some time to come.
Ceuta, located on the Mediterranean coast of northwestern Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar, borders Morocco. The recent surge of illegal crossings from the Moroccan side has triggered the most severe border migration crisis Spain has faced in recent years.
Locals remain worried even as Ceuta border tensions ease
More than 14 million people in Afghanistan -- one-third of the country's population -- are experiencing serious food insecurity, the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has warned, with huge sums of additional funding needed to address these challenges as many young children remain gravely at risk of malnutrition.
John Aylieff, the WFP's country director for Afghanistan, stated that 12 of the 34 Afghan provinces have now reached critical levels of acute child malnutrition, the highest number ever recorded, with 80 percent of the worst cases being children under two years of age.
Aylief noted the regional situation has exacerbated the crisis in recent years, with rising unemployment and soaring food costs leaving many people helpless, while the WFP is struggling to provide adequate support.
"In the past three years, close to six million Afghans have been forcibly expelled from neighboring countries. There are simply not enough jobs to sustain them. Conflict with Pakistan and the Middle East crisis have created trade disruptions, which have pushed up the prices of staple foods by 20 to 30 percent. The poor are being priced out of the market. And at present, close to 14 million Afghans are acutely hungry. In the past few months, crippled by funding cuts, the WFP has been able to feed only one in nine of them," he said.
"This is actually a story of how conflict, trade disruptions and forced returns from neighboring countries are driving unprecedented levels of acute malnutrition in Afghanistan. It's a story of how dramatic aid cuts mean that millions of acutely malnourished Afghan children are being turned away without assistance at the very moment when their lives are at risk. And it's a story of how too many children are dying in Afghanistan of acute malnutrition today. Deaths which, of course, are fully preventable," said Aylieff.
In partnership with the UN Children's Fund, the WFP runs clinics nationwide in Afghanistan to treat malnourished children aged under five as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
However, a severe funding shortfall has forced the agency to scale back food aid to only the most critical cases. The provision of specialized nutritious foods to prevent malnutrition and stunting ceased entirely in May 2025.
Aylieff stressed there is a pressing need for a significant injection of funding to face the upcoming winter months.
"Our program covering the malnutrition crisis and the general feeding is valued at about 900 million U.S. dollars this year. We have not met needs in the first six months because we didn't have money. And when you look at the next six-month window, this critical window, not just because of the current crisis, but also in the run up to winter, which is the flashpoint, the real flashpoint of hunger, WFP still needs 500 million U.S. dollars to address acute food needs in the country," he said.
One-third of Afghan population struggling with severe food insecurity: WFP
