By Joan Faus

BARCELONA (Reuters) -Nineteen boats carrying around 360 people reached Spain's Balearic Islands in the past two days, the latest surge in arrivals defying attempts by authorities to curb the fastest-growing migratory route into the European Union.

Arrivals via the Western Mediterranean route - primarily boats departing Algeria for Spain - rose 27% in January-October compared with the same period last year, the steepest increase among routes, even as overall arrivals to the EU fell 22%, according to data from EU border agency Frontex.

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and the United States shipped vast amounts of oil to Israel during its two-year Gaza offensive, according to a report by Oil Change International, which says the same fossil-fuel system driving climate change is also enabling "genocide."

Released at the UN climate summit in Brazil, the analysis titled "Behind the Barrel" found that 25 countries were responsible for 323 shipments of crude and refined petroleum products totaling 21.2 million tonnes between November 1, 2023, and October 1, 2025.

ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey believes the most realistic way to resolve political deadlock over Cyprus is to have two states on the ethnically-split island.

Erdogan was speaking alongside Tufan Erhurman, the newly-elected Turkish Cypriot president who has pledged to explore a federal solution - long supported by the United Nations - to end the island's nearly 50-year-old division.

LONDON (Reuters) -British pro-Palestinian political commentator Sami Hamdi landed back in London on Thursday after being released from the United States, where he spent more than two weeks in immigration detention.

Hamdi was detained on October 26 at San Francisco International Airport after U.S. officials revoked his visa during a speaking tour in which he criticised Israel's actions in Gaza.

By Nafisa Eltahir

(Reuters) -The funding gap for aid agencies is accentuating Sudan's crisis, leaving them unable to help many of the tens of thousands of people fleeing from the Darfur city of al-Fashir and other areas, U.N. migration chief Amy Pope said.

The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which began in April 2023, has created what the U.N. has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis at a time when global aid budgets are shrinking.

(Reuters) -The armed wings of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said on Thursday they would hand over the body of an Israeli hostage at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT).

If the transfer takes place, the bodies of three hostages will still be held in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas and also seized hostages during the October 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war, said the body was recovered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

One bucket at a time, Palestinian workers cleared sand and crumbling mortar from the remains of an former medieval fortress turned museum in Gaza City, damaged by two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

A dozen workers in high visibility jackets worked by hand to excavate the bombarded buildings that remain of the Pasha Palace Museum -- which reputedly once housed Napoleon Bonaparte during a one-night stay in Gaza -- stacking stones to be reused in one pile, and rubble to be discarded in another.

Following Iraq's parliamentary election this week, the complex and often lengthy task of choosing the country's next leader is set to begin.

Incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani claimed victory for his coalition after preliminary results showed it was the largest bloc -- though it still falls short of the majority needed to form a government.

Sudani now faces the tough quest of securing support from other parties, mostly from the Shiite majority, in his bid for a second term.

By Alessandro Parodi

(Reuters) -French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Thursday there was a high chance he would visit Algeria, hailing the north African country's release of writer Boualem Sansal as a glimmer of hope that relations between the two nations could be mended.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Wednesday pardoned the French-Algerian writer who was arrested a year ago and sentenced in March to five years in jail for undermining national unity. The case strained already difficult relations between Algeria and its colonial-era master France.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that both suicide bombers involved in the attacks in the country this week were Afghan nationals.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Writing by Surbhi Misra; Editing by YP Rajesh)