Switzerland

UNITED NATIONS, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on Wednesday launched a flash appeal worth 2.822 billion U.S. dollars for the occupied Palestinian territory.

The money will be used to provide assistance to 3.1 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, through the end of the year, said UNOCHA.

01 April 2024; MEMO: World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged Israel on Sunday to urgently enable access to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza and establish a humanitarian corridor, Anadolu news agency reported.

“We urge Israel to urgently facilitate access and a humanitarian corridor so WHO and partners can carry out the lifesaving transfer of patients,” Tedros said on X.

19 March 2024; MEMO: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, commented on Tel Aviv’s decision to prevent UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, from entering Gaza by saying, “Israel wants no witnesses, no truth-tellers.”

Tehran, IRNA - A panel of UN experts expressed alarm over credible evidence indicating the sexual abuse of Palestinian women and men by Zionist forces during their raids on Palestinian homes as well as at checkpoints and in detention centers.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, the UN panel said their assessment is based on information relieved from institutions, NGOs as well as direct interviews from the victims who experienced abuse during Israeli incursions or after being detained on different grounds.

Tehran, IRNA, 27 February 2024 - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the Conference on Disarmament has consistently failed to deliver on its promises, warning that the threat of a nuclear war, which appeared on humanity last century, has resurfaced.

23 February 2024; MEMO: Nestlé has seen “hesitancy among consumers and a preference for local brands” in the Middle East since the start of the Israeli devastating war on the besieged Gaza Strip, its CEO said in a call with journalists on Thursday, Reuters reports.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - At a dinner in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani hosted business and political leaders to showcase Iraq's improved security and finances.

As the private event was about to end, two attendees told Reuters, news reached some guests that Iran had fired ballistic missiles at what it said was an Israeli "spy headquarters" in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

GENEVA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Swiss prosecutors on Friday confirmed that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had been the subject of criminal complaints during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, as Israel finds itself accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.

"The criminal complaints will be examined according to the usual procedure," the Office of the Swiss Attorney General said, adding that it would contact the Swiss foreign ministry to examine the question of immunity of the individual concerned.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is still considering an invitation to become a member of the BRICS bloc of countries after being asked to join by the group last year, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The group in August invited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, and Ethiopia to join starting Jan. 1, although Argentina signalled it would not take up the invitation in November.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday that attacks against Israel and its interests by the "Axis of Resistance" will stop if the Gaza war ends, warning that the conflict could heighten tensions across the Middle East.

The Islamic Republic backs Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in its war with Israel, which has devastated Gaza in an aerial and ground offensive, and Tehran accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza.