The heavily guarded border is one of only two borders between the European Union and an African country, the other being Ceuta, also a Spanish enclave.

Tourism – which accounts for some 7% of Morocco's economy and creates hundreds of thousands of formal and informal jobs – was battered by Morocco's tight restrictions during the pandemic.

Morocco's 2004 family code puts the legal age of marriage at 18, but it includes a clause allowing judges to give families special dispensation to marry off children under that age.

Condolences have come from his village in northern Morocco to the Vatican, from King Mohammed to international football clubs.

Rayan Awram, aged five, fell into the well at his village of Ighran in the hills near Chefchaouen on Tuesday, triggering a huge rescue effort that engrossed the country.

Spanish media said Moroccan border guards stood by and watched as migrants tried to get into the enclave.

As Morocco strengthens ties with Israel, Tunisia has said it is not interested in establishing any such ties.

Morocco becomes the sixth Arab League member to normalise ties with Israel.