Switzerland 'Deeply Concerned' At Civilian Deaths In Gaza During Aid Delivery

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Switzerland has expressed its serious concerns at the loss of lives in northern Gaza on Thursday when at least 112 people were killed while waiting for an aid delivery.

Switzerland is“deeply concerned by the very high number of civilian casualties” reported during the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza on Thursday, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday.

“Such scenes are unacceptable, and clarification is essential,” it added.

Respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is“imperative” and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is necessary to protect civilians and deliver humanitarian aid, the Swiss foreign ministry said in a message published on the X social network (formerly Twitter).

“Our thoughts are with the families of the victims,” it added.

This content was published on Feb 2, 2024 Four young victims of the Israeli-Palestinian war, aged between 14 months and 17 years, arrived in Geneva this week from Gaza for medical treatment.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces had killed more than 100 Palestinians trying to reach a relief convoy near Gaza City early on Thursday.

Israel blamed most of the deaths on crowds that swarmed around aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. An Israeli official also said troops had“in a limited response” later fired on crowds they felt had posed a threat.

The incident has underscored the depth of the humanitarian crisis and collapse of orderly aid deliveries in areas of northern Gaza occupied by Israeli forces as part of their response to the deadly attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them
here .

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look
here ,
and if you have feedback on this news story please write to
... .

• Injured children from Gaza receive medical care in Switzerland

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at ... .

This content was published on Mar 1, 2024 Israel claims that UNRWA colludes with Hamas and donors like Switzerland are withholding funding for the agency. A look at the allegations plaguing the humanitarian organisation.

This content was published on Feb 21, 2024 The government considers a Hamas ban essential to prevent using Switzerland as a safe haven.

This content was published on Feb 20, 2024 Switzerland regrets failure of UN Security Council to agree on ceasefire in Gaza.

MENAFN03032024000210011054ID1107927061

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.