Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday they have found no evidence that Moroccan authorities orchestrated or took part in a deadly border rush into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in July.
Sanchez's comments in the lower house of parliament followed a police report that emerged this week saying that the mass entry into Ceuta was not a spontaneous migration event but a planned and phased operation designed to overwhelm border controls.
"I can assure you that no institution – not the diplomatic service, nor the European Commission, nor any international body – has provided the Spanish government with any solid evidence that Morocco planned or carried out the incident. None whatsoever," Sanchez said.
However, he said Morocco's Gendarmerie police did allow crossings to occur during a key 10-hour period on July 30, when migrant arrivals peaked. Spanish authorities had yet to determine whether this was due to inaction or inability to contain the influx, Sanchez added.
The police report, seen by Reuters, alleged that Moroccan security forces were initially deployed in smaller numbers than usual near the Tarajal breakwater separating the enclave from the North African country and did not make a serious attempt to disperse the crowds.
Some uniformed Moroccan officers gave directions toward the crossing point, while other unidentified people appeared to guide or monitor the flow of people, the report said, but it did not identify individual officers or provide independently verified evidence of orders from Moroccan authorities.
Moroccan officials have denied enabling the crossing.
Last Monday, Sanchez accused Russia and Israel of spreading disinformation about Spain’s migration policy that helped trigger the migrant surge into Ceuta.
He said that research by the EU's diplomatic service EEAS had indicated that Russian and Israeli networks had been behind the spread of disinformation in conjunction with far-right networks.
Sanchez added that it was clear that the two countries had used the crisis to criticize Madrid due to dissatisfaction with its position on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but gave no further details on the evidence he had of their involvement.
Over 72,000 migrants irregularly crossed from Morocco into the tiny Spanish territory between July 30 and 31 in an unprecedented surge at one of the EU's only two land borders with Africa, prompting alarm across the bloc. At least 100 people died in the attempt, according to Ceuta's local authorities.
Roughly 5,000 migrants, some seeking asylum, have remained in Ceuta, triggering near-daily protests from locals against the Spanish government's handling of the crisis and sporadic attacks against a makeshift migrant camp at El Trampolin beach, according to police reports.