News Center— Amid the growing number of arrivals and limited accommodation capacity in the Spanish city of Ceuta, reports have emerged of suspected cases of sexual assault against underage girls.

According to the Spanish newspaper El Pueblo de Ceuta, the emergency department of the city's university hospital is receiving cases of underage migrant girls suspected of having been subjected to sexual assault, at a time when minor care centers are facing a shortage of available spaces due to the significant increase in arrivals.

The newspaper indicated that medical staff are receiving underage girls in alarming conditions, noting that some girls face the risk of remaining on the streets due to the lack of available spaces in shelters.

It explained that the problem is not related to care centers refusing to accept minors, but to their limited capacity, amid increasing pressure on the city following the mass crossing wave it witnessed in late July.

Available data indicates that the recent influx has raised the number of migrants present in Ceuta, including a large number of children and unaccompanied minors, placing local authorities before growing challenges related to accommodation, protection, and care.

These developments come as Spanish police opened an investigation into a complaint filed by a Moroccan minor, in which she reported having been raped after arriving in Ceuta during the mass crossing wave the city witnessed on July 30 and 31.

At Least Five Minors in One Week

According to Spanish media citing security sources, the girl was transferred to the university hospital in Ceuta for treatment, where doctors observed injuries consistent with sexual assault, before she filed a formal complaint with the authorities.

Local media also reported that the university hospital in Ceuta received at least five girls under the age of 14 during the past week, suspected of having been subjected to sexual assault, all of whom had arrived in the city from Morocco.

The same sources indicate that the actual number of cases may be higher, as some incidents have not reached the stage of formal complaints. The hospital also treated more than ten cases showing indicators consistent with sexual assault.

These figures, according to available data, reflect the scale of pressure facing health and social services in the city, particularly given the difficulty of providing protection and accommodation for all arriving minors.

The number of minors in Ceuta is estimated at approximately four thousand, while local authorities are caring for more than a thousand of them, most of whom arrived during the recent influx. This constitutes significant pressure on the city's minor care system, which already suffers from limited shelter capacity.