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Italy says it’s temporarily suspending EU Schengen arrangement with Spain after 60,000 migrants reach Ceuta – as it happened

Just as we closed the blog, Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has confirmed the move to suspend the free movement with on air and sea borders with Spain. She said it was “an extraordinary measure, adopted to safeguard national security and prevent possible repercussions for our nation.” In another sign that it may stop short of full border control for all arrivals from Spain (19:19), she said “the measure will be kept in force only for the time necessary, with particular attention to limiting any impact on summer tourist flows.” She added that “Italy is ready to support every European initiative to assist Spanish institutions as needed to restore full control of the Union’s external borders and to address the ongoing situation with determination.” “Defending borders means defending the safety of citizens, combating irregular immigration, and striking at the criminal networks that traffic human beings,” she said.

Middle East crisis live: Trump says ‘Israel is very happy’ with Gaza peace plan but doesn’t say if withdrawal or Hamas disarmament comes first

Also at the cabinet meeting earlier, Donald Trump said he was “losing faith” in negotiations with Iran, and implied, as he has done in the past, that Iranian negotiators were making him “angry” by saying one thing privately and another publicly. They always want to talk, but they break their word so often. As an example, we’ll talk about nuclear, and we’ll be in there talking about nuclear for seven hours, and I say ... why do you need seven? You can take 10 minutes. You have five minutes, you should solve it. And they’ll go out and they’ll say, ‘We never discussed nuclear.’ And I say why, why do they say that? All they do is make me angry. You know, they just make me angry. He added: “I’m losing faith in them because they do lie and do, they do misrepresent.” Asked what he expects for Iran in the next few weeks, the US president said: “We’ll be hitting them very hard.” “You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,’” he added.

At least 57 people die as tens of thousands cross to Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco

At least 57 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after as many as 50,000 migrants entered the tiny territory from Morocco in what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. The huge influx, which took place over the course of just 24 hours, overwhelmed the city of 85,000 people, triggered a political crisis for Madrid and led to a mixed reaction from other EU countries, including calls for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone. Sánchez, who arrived in Ceuta on Friday morning, said he would use all the resources at his disposal to guarantee the safety of the city’s population. He attributed the mass crossing to “human trafficking mafias” that had taken advantage of a decision by Spain’s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta, or Spain’s other north African enclave of Melilla, could not be summarily returned under special rules. Sánchez said: “That has spread like wildfire during these last few hours through the networks of mafias that traffic in human beings and has produced an avalanche of the characteristics and dimension that we experienced yesterday.” Sánchez said a temporary reception centre would be established to facilitate the documentation, registration, triage and “expedited” expulsion of people with no legal claim to be in Spain. He also said the government would erect a visible barrier – a line of buoys – near the breakwater at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach to make it clear where the border was, and to legally comply with the court’s ruling. Although the Spanish government said about 50,000 people had crossed the border on Thursday and in the early hours of Friday, the president of Ceuta put the figure at about 60,000. Spain’s interior ministry, which has deployed additional police officers and soldiers to the enclave, said more than 48,300 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco by 6pm on Friday. The latest incident dwarfs the last mass border crossing in May 2021, when Morocco loosened its border controls, allowing about 10,000 people to enter the territory over the course of two days. That crossing came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara – a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Spain and Algeria, which had supported the Polisario group. Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July – the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years – marking a thaw in relations with Algeria. Moroccan government sources told the Europa Press news agency that the surge of people entering Ceuta was down to “criminal organisations” and insisted that Rabat’s cooperation with Spain remained “exemplary”. Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers’ association representing officers of the Spanish Guardia Civil – which patrols Spain’s borders – described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis”. Without shelter, thousands of people, including unaccompanied children, had been left sleeping in parks and on pavements, while others roamed the streets aimlessly. “It’s chaotic,” said Sbihi. Among those who died, many drowned, but some were killed in a crush to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal beach, Sbihi said. Video footage on Thursday showed crowds of people walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach on to local roads. While most appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and small children. Ceuta and Melilla have the EU’s only land border with Africa. ‌Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by people seeking to reach Europe. The events in Ceuta led some EU countries to issue strong threats or rebukes. Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, summoned Italy’s ambassador to Madrid on Friday after Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government called for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone. Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, blamed the situation in Ceuta on the Sánchez government’s decision to offer a now closed scheme to regularise the status of more than 1 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. He said the programme had incentivised human trafficking and was “profoundly wrong”. Tajani’s remarks prompted a sharp response from Albares, who said the comments were “unbecoming” and accused Italy of “partisan demagoguery”. Italy announced on Friday evening that it would be suspending its Schengen arrangements with Spain, but the practical impact of the move was not immediately clear. Responding to Italy’s unilateral decision, a European Commission spokesperson said a member state “may exceptionally and temporarily reintroduce internal border control as a matter of last resort, to address serious threats to public order or national security”. But they added that the member state would need to notify the commission and explain how the situation in Ceuta constituted such a threat. The Guardian understands that Italy has not yet formally notified any of its EU partners of its decision. The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, urged Spain to “act swiftly to regain control of the situation and fulfil its commitments within Schengen cooperation”. The Finnish interior minister, Mari Rantanen, said that as Spain had “completely failed to protect the Schengen area’s external border”, all EU countries should support Italy’s proposal to suspend its Schengen status. However, in a statement later on Friday, the European Commission said Ceuta and Melilla were subject to special Schengen rules that prevented onward movement within the zone. The EU’s migration commissioner, Magnus Brunner, called the situation in Ceuta “unacceptable” and said he was in close contact with the Spanish authorities. But he also confirmed there was no onward route from Ceuta given the enclave’s unique status under the Schengen rules. He said: “The Schengen borders code provides for special rules that apply to Ceuta and Melilla. Border checks on persons departing from Ceuta and Melilla remain in force.” But there were also shows of unity. The European Council president, António Costa, expressed his “solidarity with Spain in the current situation of illegal migration in Ceuta”. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he had been in touch with the Spanish government to express his solidarity and to offer assistance to Spain. But, as a precautionary measure, Macron said he had asked the interior ministry to strengthen the French controls on its border with Spain with four mobile units and drones. In Spain, the opposition People’s party (PP) called on Sánchez to come up with a tough response, saying the military and police reinforcements announced on Thursday night were insufficient. In a post on X, the PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wrote: “People have continued to arrive in Ceuta throughout the night, and those on the ground describe an occupied city, with nothing sufficient being done to prevent it.” The far-right Vox party called the incident “an invasion”.

Daughter of British couple killed in Spanish wildfire rejects claim they ignored order to leave

The bereaved daughter of a British couple who died in a Spanish wildfire is calling on the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, to get answers from Spain’s government about why her parents were not told to evacuate until it was too late. Severe wildfires have burned across Spain and France since early July, killing people, destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee. Pete and Fran Gillam, who lived in Bédar in Almería, died in mid-July while fleeing their home as a wildfire tore through the village. They were among 13 people killed in the fires, many of whom died in their cars as they tried to escape. Danielle Kirton, 42, an assistant headteacher from Nottinghamshire, has spent the weeks since her parents died looking for answers. She knows her mother would have followed official advice had she have been given it. Though the fire alert came at 4.30pm, the evacuation order did not come until more than three hours later. Kirton said this was delivered by a lone police officer, who was “frantically driving from house to house” and Spain’s official emergency alert system, which plays a loud noise on mobile phones and tells people to evacuate, was not used. “My mother sent me a video at 6.45pm showing the fire a considerable way away from the hill where they live,” Kirton said. “She didn’t sound worried or concerned. I kept in contact with her and she sent me a message saying at 7.53pm that they’d evacuated.” However, the decision to evacuate was made tragically late. “They stopped at a neighbour’s driveway to shout to a neighbour they needed to evacuate, but then they became trapped as the fire had jumped on both sides of the road.” There are now other wildfires burning in much of Spain and south-west France, but there have been no civilian casualties so far. In the small village where her parents lived, 13 people died. “It would appear that somewhere within that system there has been a failure. If you look at the subsequent wildfires in Spain, there have been no casualties and the biggest difference is the emergency alert was used in subsequent wildfires,” Kirton said. She said her mother loved living in Bédar and as a retired headteacher took much joy in organising quiz nights to fundraise for the local school. She had a bag packed and she was ready to evacuate. “She was just waiting to be told what to do,” Kirton said. Spanish politicians have claimed that those who died ignored instructions. “My parents did not ignore instructions. My parents would have not had an issue with instructions in Spanish,” Kirton said. “My parents heeded advice to shelter in place, until they were then told that they needed to evacuate. “They took the correct route, and their only route, to the evacuation point. It is a weak and cowardly act to blame victims in the face of tragedy.” The response from the Foreign Office has been a “slap in the face”, she added. “The help from the consulate has been nonexistent. We got sent a link: ‘What to do when someone dies abroad.’ That is it. It is a slap in the face, to be honest.” Miliband has been visiting France and Spain to discuss wildfires and the climate crisis with political leaders. Kirton said: “As UK citizens, it is important to ask for his support in asking Spanish authorities to conduct a full and thorough investigation.” Scientists say the fires have been worsened by the climate crisis, which has intensified the recent heatwaves. Kirton said this makes it more crucial that lessons are learned so no one has to go through what she has. “It’s vital for planning for the future that we see what exactly were the contributing factors in this case,” she said. “It’s a perfect storm, the weather, the climate, the vegetation, the wind. My parents weren’t concerned before – it isn’t something they felt fearful of, it wasn’t something that happened where they lived.” Kirton has been working every day since her parents died trying to get answers and a substantial response from the Spanish authorities. She said: “My mum and dad would have always spoken up for what’s right and if I can do anything for them it’s that we can ask for the truth and ensure this never happens again to any other families.” The Andalusian government has been contacted for comment. A Foreign Office spokesperson said that any investigation into the fire response is a matter for the Spanish government: “The foreign secretary has been in regular contact with his Spanish counterpart, including during his visit to Madrid on Wednesday. “They discussed how the UK could support Spain’s response, ensure British nationals receive the right advice and assistance, and agreed that lessons must be learned as climate change makes these dangerous wildfires more likely. “Staff at our embassy have been working with the British community in the affected area, collating their questions and concerns and raising them with the Spanish authorities. This work is ongoing.”

Why is Ceuta a migration flashpoint and how were so many people able to cross from Morocco?

What has happened and where? Border controls between Morocco and the tiny Spanish territory of Ceuta appeared to break down in recent days, allowing an estimated 50,000 people to cross on to the Spanish side in chaotic and dangerous scenes that resulted in dozens of deaths. The number of arrivals was more than two-thirds the size of the ordinary population in Ceuta, where a humanitarian crisis was playing out on Friday. As of Friday evening, more than 37,500 people had been returned to the Moroccan side of the border, with hundreds more going back by the hour. Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish territory 250 miles to the east along north Africa’s Mediterranean coast, constitute the EU’s only land borders with Africa. In Spanish possession since 1580, Ceuta is home to a mixed population of Christians and Muslims, while its Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers live in relative harmony. Morocco does not officially recognise Ceuta and Melilla as Spanish territories and often refers to them as occupied lands. Why is Ceuta a migration flashpoint? Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for people seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries. Ceuta and Melilla are heavily fortified as they are seen as destinations for those trying to reach Spain from Morocco and other parts of Africa. Many migrants who reach Ceuta or Melilla are immediately turned back, but others are held in migrant shelters while they apply for asylum in Spain. To reach Ceuta, people often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5km). Others attempt the crossing from the nearer town of Belyounech. In 2022, 23 people were killed as about 2,000 people, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, attempted to cross into Melilla from Morocco, while in 2014 at least 14 people died off Ceuta when 200 people tried to enter by climbing the border fence or swimming around the breakwater that separates the city from Moroccan territory. Migrant arrivals to Ceuta and Melilla are generally much lower than those reaching Spain through the Canary and Balearic islands. Spain’s overall immigrant population has grown considerably in recent decades, with about 10 million people in the country of 50 million having been born elsewhere. Many are from Colombia, Venezuela and Morocco and work in key sectors of the Spanish economy including agriculture, tourism and the services sector. Since at least the mid-1990s, thousands of people cross the Mediterranean each year from north African countries and Turkey in search of asylum in Europe. According to figures from the International Organization for Migration, 35,153 migrant deaths and disappearances have been recored in the Mediterranean since 2014, with 1,493 dead or missing during the first seven months of 2026. Why have so many people managed to cross over? It was not immediately clear. Moroccan authorities have not yet issued a statement, and it is unclear how hard they tried to prevent the crossings. However, the crossing could be linked to the rivalry between Morocco and Algeria, and a recent trip by the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, to Algiers. The last mass border crossing, in May 2021, took place after Morocco loosened border controls during a diplomatic row with Spain over Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara – a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algiers, which supports the Polisario group. Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July – the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years – marking a thaw in relations with Algeria. Speaking from Ceuta on Friday, Sánchez blamed the sudden inflow on human traffickers spreading rumours about a recent Spanish supreme court ruling that irregular migrants arriving by sea cannot be immediately returned. Matteo Villa, a migration researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, said politics was most likely involved. “What happened in 2021 was the small-scale version of what happened yesterday,” he said. “I mean, 50,000 people do not come overnight when usually it’s hundreds per month. Sánchez going to Algeria is something Morocco didn’t really like.” Villa suggested Morocco may have loosened the border as a way of showing it has “the upper hand”, especially because authorities there know it would cause an overreaction in Europe. “They love seeing all the fighting between European countries,” he added. How have governments and authorities reacted? Spain deployed its armed forces and additional police to restore order after the breach, which Sánchez described as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity”. Images and footage of the border chaos sparked a crisis for the Spanish government and divisions within the EU, where rightwing politicians blamed the incident on Spain’s policy of legalising hundreds of thousands of irregular migrants this year. Italy’s far-right government went so far as to call for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone – even though Ceuta and Melilla do not fall under Schengen arrangements in the usual way – while France tightened its borders with the country.

World-renowned climber Nirmal Purja among 11 struck by avalanche on Pakistan mountain

The world-renowned Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja – a former British special forces member – is among 11 climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. The Alpine Club of Pakistan said “seven climbers have been spotted via aerial drone footage” adding that “their identities and condition cannot yet be verified”. Rescuers had said earlier on Friday that four bodies had been found and efforts were under way to retrieve them despite the harsh weather. Three of the dead have been identified: Pur Bahadur Gurung, a Nepali citizen, Nadhira Alharthy, who was the first Omani to climb Everest, and US climber Mallory Geis. Their bodies have been transported to a hospital. Purja, also known as Nims Dai, made history in 2019 after climbing all of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres in just over six months, cutting years off the previous record. He later led the first team to summit K2, the world’s second-highest mountain in winter, a highly coveted achievement. Purja has also attracted controversy, however, including a high-profile claim, which he denied, of sexually inappropriate behaviour. Also among those missing are the US climber Mallory Geis, a Chinese national, Wang Zhong, and Pakistani and Nepali high-altitude workers. As night fell on the mountain on Friday, visual searches for any survivors, including with the use of drones, were halted. Search efforts have been hampered by the weather and the fact that unlike in Nepal, where there is a well-established network of private helicopter search and rescue operations, helicopters are less available in Pakistan and run by the military. Trackers carried by the climbers showed a rapid loss of altitude, suggesting the team had been caught in an avalanche. Purja’s tracker, however, shifted location after the initial rapid descent. The GPS data suggested the avalanche occurred close to 9am local time at 6,579 metres (21,585ft), between camp two and camp three on the mountain’s west ridge, the most popular ascent route. According to Climbing magazine, Geis’s tracker showed a sudden descent of 543 metres, while Alharthy’s tracker showed a much-larger descent of 1,651 metres. Commenting on the rescue efforts, a spokesperson for police in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region said “preliminary reports indicate that four bodies have so far been recovered”, adding that the condition of the remaining climbers was still being verified. A statement by the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) suggested an avalanche had struck a group of climbers around midday on Thursday. “The entire team has been out of communication since the avalanche,” the statement said, as teams with helicopters and drones were sent to help with rescue efforts. The statement added: “Every possible effort is being made to ensure that helicopter support and all available rescue resources are mobilised at the earliest opportunity, subject to weather and operational conditions.” Irfan Arshad Khan, the ACP’s president, said: “We can confirm the death of three climbers, as we received two dead bodies and a body part of another climber.” Purja’s business partner, Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, who is also a member of the Nepali house of representatives, said data appeared to show continuing movement from Purja’s tracking device after the initial incident. “Initially, it appeared that he had been swept downhill by the avalanche,” he told the Nepali news site Kantipur. “But after the point where the tracking had stopped, the location appears to have shifted again.” Mingma added that one Pakistani and one Nepali climber had set out overland towards the suspected avalanche site to check reports that one climber’s location appeared to be near the base of the mountain. “We have received information that one person’s location appears to be near the foot of the mountain. A search team has gone there to verify it,” he said. Mingma cautioned that they did not have any indication of Purja’s condition, simply that the location of the tracker had shifted. In person, Purja was striking for his confidence and self-belief. His rapid chain of ascents of the world’s tallest mountains demonstrated strength and a talent for logistical organisation, using the exploit to showcase what he felt were the overlooked abilities of Nepali climbers. His profile was boosted after he starred in a 2021 Netflix documentary on the feat. The previous record for climbing all 14 was seven years; his record was surpassed in 2023. Purja was leading an expedition for his company, Elite Exped, on Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain at 8,047 metres, when the avalanche occurred. The ACP received “deeply concerning” reports on Thursday that an avalanche had struck the team. The expedition includes five Nepali climbers, as well as US, Pakistani, Omani and Chinese nationals. Another foreign climber was also part of the group, said the ACP’s vice-president, Karrar Haidri. “The club prays for the safety and successful rescue of all the climbers and stands in solidarity with their families and the international mountaineering community during this difficult time,” the ACP said in a statement. Purja, who is also a British citizen after joining the British army in 2003, opted to use supplementary oxygen for his ascents, justifying his choice by the huge size of the challenge he had set himself. Purja had written on X this week that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 mountains over 8,000 metres twice without oxygen. “Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down,” he wrote. “I take zero mountains for granted. Not one. The moment my foot leaves basecamp, it’s 100%. Always has been. Always will be. “My purpose has never been about me. It’s about what I represent. It’s about showing YOU that your own mountains – whatever they are – are climbable.”

Iran strikes tankers under US escort in Hormuz strait as Trump gathers cabinet to discuss war

Iran has said it struck two tankers trying to pass through the strait of Hormuz under the escort of the US military as Donald Trump gathered his cabinet to discuss the stalling war and rising prices as midterm elections in the US loom. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday that the “non-compliant oil tankers … were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions”. The military body said the ships had tried to pass through the strait via an “undeclared route” and under US aerial escort. Iran and the US have said ships should pass through the strait via two competing routes, with Iran bombing ships that take the southern route, close to the coast of Oman, and the US bombing ships that violate its blockade of Iranian ships and ports. The strait has been almost completely closed to traffic since Iran and the US returned to fighting two weeks ago, sending energy prices soaring. On Thursday, the price of crude oil pushed past $90 a barrel when the US struck Iran in retaliation for its targeting of US bases in Jordan. Fighting continued on Friday, with the Kuwaiti defence ministry reporting that it had shot down Iranian drones targeting “vital and military facilities” without any casualties. In Lebanon, the Israeli military carried out a huge detonation overnight near the ancient Beaufort Castle. It said it was targeting Hezbollah tunnels and infrastructure. The explosion was heard across south Lebanon and covered nearby towns in ash, while photos showed the affected area levelled by the force of the blast. Lebanese officials accused Israel of violating the ceasefire by carrying out the detonation. The Israeli military said it was ensuring the security of its northern residents. Trump has tried to open the strait of Hormuz by force, but increasingly intense US strikes on Iran have yielded few results. The price of gas and groceries remain high in the US as a result of the energy disruption, complicating Republicans’ chances at the ballot box in November’s midterm elections. On Friday, Trump brought his cabinet together at the Camp David retreat in Maryland to try to chart a path forward for the war. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said at a briefing last week that the cabinet meeting would be “a lot of fun and something different for the cabinet to experience together”. Top of the agenda will be the Iran war, which Trump promised would last a few weeks but has now dragged on for five months. A Reuters-Ipsos poll this week found that one in three Americans support the war, the lowest polling since the war began. Support in Congress is also waning, with the US Senate narrowly rejecting a symbolic vote to express disapproval of the war. The war powers resolution asking the president to stop the war failed in a 49-50 vote. Inflation caused by the war is a boon for Democrats, who are hoping to wrest control of the house from the Republicans. Energy companies have posted record profits as a result of the conflict, with ExxonMobil’s profits doubling and Chevron reporting more than five times its profits in the same time period last year.

‘Extremely scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather

The extreme heat and drought stoking huge wildfires in Spain and France were made far more likely by the climate crisis, a scientific analysis has found. Global heating made hot, dry and windy weather at least 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France, experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium calculated. The finding is the latest to pin the blame for the continent’s sweltering and deadly summer firmly on the heating caused by the burning of oil, gas and coal. The intense heatwave at the end of June, which is estimated to have killed 20,000 people, could not have happened without the extra heat trapped by carbon pollution, a previous WWA study showed. Another found that the climate crisis-driven heat was “sucking soils dry” as extreme drought spread across Europe. Searing heat and parched land led to very high “daily severity ratings”, the metric that was used in the new analysis and which measures how severe a wildfire will be if ignited. Studies of the 2025 wildfires also found they were supercharged by the climate crisis. This year’s wildfires in western Europe have been made worse by a wet winter and spring, which boosted the growth of vegetation, which then dried out and provided fuel for the fires – so-called whiplash conditions. Global heating is making winters wetter and summers drier and hotter in Europe. Dr Clair Barnes, a research associate at Imperial College London and part of the WWA study team, said: “We’ve seen repeatedly how climate change increases hot, dry, flammable conditions that are extremely conducive to wildfires. “What’s unique about [the July fires in Spain and France] is that it’s still early in the season – and with another heatwave looming, these findings are extremely scary. What we’re seeing is a clear sign of the escalating impacts of [human-caused] warming.” Julie Arrighi, the director of programmes at Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said: “What we are seeing now in Spain and France goes well beyond what we would expect from past events.” The wildfires have released huge plumes of toxic smoke. Dr Augustin Colette, at the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks, said: “The smoke increased particulate [pollution] peak levels up to 20 times above what is considered ‘fair air quality’, and extremely poor air quality was felt up to 400 km away from the fires.” About 1.5 million people a year are estimated to have their lives shortened by wildfire smoke. Severe wildfires have burned across Spain and France since early July, killing people, destroying thousands of homes, and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee. The WWA analysis assessed the seven-day period with the highest daily severity ratings (DSR) for each country. The scientists used weather records and established statistical methods to estimate how much more likely a week of extremely high DSR is in today’s heated world compared with in the world before mass fossil-fuel burning raised the global temperature by 1.4C (2.5F). Big wildfires have also broken out in the UK and Greece, where three firefighters lost their lives. The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, said: “These European megafires show how fast climate-driven extreme heat and dry landscapes can turn wildfires into devastating national disasters. “Humanity continuing to burn colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas is making these conditions more dangerous, and these megafires more deadly and destructive,” he said. “But the solutions are equally clear: all countries must move faster from fossil fuels to renewables and protect people from worsening climate impacts, from wildfires, to megastorms and floods, to droughts hitting food production.” The Guardian’s climate forum 2026 On Tuesday 20 October, join Damian Carrington, and our panel of experts – including Prof Andy Haines, Katie White MP, Asad Rehman, Shruti Suresh, Gareth Thomas and Amy Fairman – for a hopeful and solutions-focused evening. Book tickets here or at guardian.live