Switzerland Cannot Hide Behind Neutrality in the Face of Genocide in Gaza!

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical point: more than 61,000 dead, 150,000 injured, and nearly 90% of hospitals non-functional. This is the first time we have witnessed such levels of malnutrition in Gaza. This famine is deliberate. It could end if the Israeli authorities allowed the massive delivery of food.

Neutrality cannot be an excuse in the face of genocide. Silence kills. Inaction is not an option. MSF calls on Switzerland to use all political, diplomatic, and economic means at its disposal to put pressure on the Israeli government.

MSF urges citizens to sign a public appeal demanding that:

• End the genocide in Gaza now!
• Allow large-scale delivery of water, food, shelter, and medical supplies!
• Protect patients, healthcare workers, and medical facilities!
• Enable medical evacuations from Gaza!
• Implement a permanent ceasefire immediately!

This initiative follows the mobilization organized on June 5, 2025, in Geneva, during which MSF had already called on the Federal Council. As the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland bears the responsibility to oppose the instrumentalization of humanitarian aid and to defend its impartiality with greater determination, especially in the face of the unprecedented scale of the current crisis and the urgent need to act to protect civilians in Gaza.

This is not a term we use lightly. Our decision to describe what’s happening in Gaza as a 'genocide' is based on nearly two years of extensive, firsthand information from our teams, who are witnessing massive levels of death and destruction by Israeli forces, a campaign of ethnic cleansing and the almost total dismantling of the health care system.

Over the past 22 months, Israeli authorities have been responsible for mass killings, indiscriminate attacks, forced displacement, repeated failure to protect civilians, the deliberate destruction of homes and vital infrastructure, and the weaponisation of hunger in what amounts to collective punishment. 

There have been multiple and well-documented dehumanising statements by Israeli officials calling for the annihilation of the population, or their transfer out of the Strip. The only reasonable inference is that the intention is to erase the Palestinian people from Gaza. This is why we believe that a genocide is taking place.

In the face of such atrocities, sanctioned and enabled by Israel’s allies, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, we believe it is our moral obligation to speak out with clarity.

Since October 7, 2023, our medical teams have been working tirelessly under extreme conditions in Gaza. In the face of relentless attacks on civilians, the collapse of the health system, and the ongoing obstruction of humanitarian aid, Médecins Sans Frontières acts, heals, and bears witness.

On June 5, together with more than 150 staff members gathered at Place des Nations, we drew a symbolic red line: every limit has been crossed. Aid is being manipulated, diverted from its humanitarian purpose, and the most fundamental principles of international humanitarian law are being trampled.

MSF invited Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis to engage directly on what our teams are experiencing in Gaza — beyond statistics, beyond political disputes, confronting the harsh realities on the ground. We believe that Switzerland, as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, has a key role to play in ensuring these principles are upheld.

Our mobilizations are exceptional, matching the gravity of what our teams are reporting. They reflect a clear rejection of the growing instrumentalization of humanitarian aid and of the Swiss government’s passivity in the face of this catastrophe.

International humanitarian law took root in Switzerland with the first Geneva Convention in 1864. All signatory states have the responsibility to implement the Geneva Conventions, and Switzerland, as the depositary state, carries this responsibility as well.

MSF’s principles are fundamentally rooted in neutrality and impartiality: we provide humanitarian aid based on needs, without distinction. But neutrality does not mean remaining silent in the face of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or acts of genocide. Bearing witness is an integral part of our social mission.

In Gaza, for the past 22 months, our staff have been testifying to massive and indiscriminate violence, systematic destruction, forced displacement, and total disregard for civilian life. Twelve of our colleagues have lost their lives. The war waged by Israel amounts to collective punishment, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. To remain silent in the face of what our teams are witnessing would be to become complicit.