Gaza has been at the centre of conflict since the 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas
Keystone
Switzerland voted in favour of a successful United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of the hostage.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Switzerland and 157 other member states agreed with the draft in New York late on Thursday. The resolution passed despite nine votes against – including the United States and Israel – and 13 abstentions.
+ Read why banning Hamas is no simple task
Resolutions of the UN General Assembly are not binding but have political symbolic power. Last year, the body already passed similar resolutions twice, but this time the language of the paper is clearer and the demands more vehement.
In addition, the General Assembly has now passed a resolution supporting the mandate of the recently controversial UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). A total 159 countries, including Switzerland, voted in favour, nine against and 11 abstained. Both resolutions thus received the necessary two-thirds majorities.
More
More
Swiss parliament approves a five-year ban on Hamas
Translated from German by DeepL/mga
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
