Swiss foreign minister calls on Israel to authorise more aid to Gaza
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Swiss foreign minister calls on Israel to authorise more aid to Gaza
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has called on Israel to allow more aid for the Gaza Strip. At the end of his lightning trip to the Middle East, the Swiss foreign minister considered the recognition of a Palestinian state to be premature, but said it would come.
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“The Israelis have underestimated the task of providing humanitarian aid for two million people,” Cassis told the Keystone-SDA news agency on his flight back to Switzerland on Wednesday. His Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar admitted that the aid for the people in the Gaza Strip was not sufficient.
In the past, the Israeli government has repeatedly accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, of interfering with aid deliveries and justified the blocking of deliveries on this basis.
On October 7, 2023, the terrorist organisation Hamas attacked Israeli border villages from the Gaza Strip, causing a massacre with around 1,200 fatalities and taking over 250 people hostage. The Israeli army then began its attacks on the Gaza Strip, causing tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths to date.
No Israeli promises
The Israeli Foreign Minister Saar had “taken note of our concerns”, but without making any promises, said Cassis on his flight back to Switzerland. The Swiss foreign minister had been criticised in recent weeks for his position towards the Israeli government, which many felt was too lukewarm.
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The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israeli-American group set up for monitoring humanitarian aid in the Palestinian territory, is problematic because it does not adhere to humanitarian principles, said Cassis. “According to indications from humanitarian organisations and the Israeli government, it is in the process of learning,” he said.
A few days before a conference in New York on the two-state solution in the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, the foreign minister said he wanted to deepen Switzerland’s understanding of current developments.
Following his talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Ramallah on the West Bank, Cassis is convinced that the Palestinian Authority is aware of its role. This is despite the fact that the implementation of good governance and control of the territory is still an incomplete process.
“But if you are striving for a two-state solution, it is logical that one day Palestine will be recognised. The only question is when, according to criteria that are credible for both sides,” said Cassis.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
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