Since October 7, 2023, Switzerland, the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, has repeatedly emphasised the need to end hostilities in the Middle East. But its positions have raised criticism for being too lenient towards Israel. On October 7, 2023, Hamas alongside other armed Palestinian groups attacked Israel, killing more than 1,100 people and taking some 251 hostages to Gaza. Israel responded with a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign against Hamas militants had killed more than 60,000 people by the end of July 2025, with nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18. An international monitoring group warned in July that a worst-case scenario of famine was unfolding in Gaza since the Israeli army placed the enclave under humanitarian blockade in early March 2025. Over the past two years Switzerland has continued to offer its good offices to support the resumption of peace talks. It has ...
