France will suspend the plan to welcome 3,500 refugees currently in Italy after Rome's refusal to let a charity ship disembark 234 migrants rescued at sea, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Thursday.

France suspends plan to welcome 3,500 refugees currently in Italy: Interior Minister

More than 250 migrants disembarked in Sicily on Saturday from an NGO rescue ship, while another vessel carrying around 550 people was given permission to land on the Italian island.

Hundreds of migrants find safe port in Italy

A fishing boat carrying nearly 370 migrants landed overnight on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the country's news agencies said on Sunday, fueling anger from local officials over a recent rise in illegal arrivals.

More migrant arrivals fuel local anger in Italy's Lampedusa

The latest operations take up the number of rescued migrants to arrive in Italy, mostly Africans, to 66,000 since the start of 2016

Italian coastguard rescue 3,300 migrants off Libya