Italy says it is "at war" with migrant traffickers, and has urged the EU to take robust action to stop more people dying in the Mediterranean.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi made the comment ahead of an EU summit on Thursday to discuss the crisis. Italy's Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti told Italian TV that the EU should consider military intervention.
More than 800 people drowned off Libya's coast on Sunday, bringing the number of deaths this year to 1,750.
The number of people attempting to flee war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, particularly Eritreans and Syrians, has spiked in recent months, leading to huge numbers of people drowning in unseaworthy and often overcrowded vessels.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says there have been 30 times as many deaths so far in 2015 as in the same period last year and the figure could rise to 30,000.
More than 500 people rescued from several other boats were brought ashore by Italian coastguards on Wednesday
On Monday, the EU set out a 10-point action plan to prevent more deaths. They include an increase in the financial resources of Frontex, the border agency which runs the EU's Mediterranean rescue service Triton, and an extension of Triton's operational area.
The EU had been criticised over the scope of Triton, which replaced the larger Italian operation Mare Nostrum last year. There will also be a new campaign to destroy traffickers' boats.
However, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) stressed that "much more was needed" to tackle the issue.
Human rights group Amnesty International said the decision to end Mare Nostrum had "contributed to a dramatic increase in migrant and refugee deaths".
The slave traders of the 21st Century
The slave traders of the 21st Century
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”