‘Switzerland should do more for Gaza’: UNRWA head

Gaza: the head of UNRWA regrets that Switzerland is not doing more Keystone-SDA

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has criticised Switzerland for not taking the lead in demanding an immediate resumption of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Philippe Lazzarini, a Swiss national, has called on Bern to take the lead in such initiatives.

Twenty-four Western countries appealed to Israel on Monday for an immediate and complete resumption of operations in Gaza, without interference. “I don’t know what else Switzerland needs to make up its mind,” UNWRA’s Commissioner General said in an interview with Le Temps.

+ Can UNRWA report restore confidence in the organisation?

“It is regrettable that Switzerland, a country with a humanitarian tradition, but which is also home to humanitarian Geneva, which is currently going through a serious crisis, is not taking a stand. I think that a country like ours should take the lead in initiatives of this kind”, he added.

Adapted from French by DeepL/mga

How we work

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. 

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [e-mail]

News