Palestinians carry aid packages near a distribution center of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younès, in the south of the enclave.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
The authority for controlling the foundations will dissolve the Geneva antenna from the organization which manages a controversial aid mechanism in Gaza. A symbolic decision while calls for a return of the UN system are increasing.
The Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority (ASF) announced on Wednesday that the Geneva subsidiary of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would be dissolved. A decision taken “because the GHF Foundation did not comply with various legal obligations”, indicates the Federal Department of the Interior (DFI)-on which AFS depends-at the Swiss press agency, Keystone-ATS.
Based in Delaware, in the United States, the GHF had recorded, at the beginning of the year, for financial reasons, a non-operational antenna in Geneva. According to the authority for the control of the foundations, several breaches are to be observed. Among them, the fact that no member of the Foundation Board is domiciled or authorized to sign in Switzerland, that the GHF does not have a bank account in the country, and that it does not have a valid address.
However, this decision will not have an impact on organizational operations in Gaza. Present in Brussels on Wednesday, the director of the GHF, Johnnie Moore, an evangelical close to President Donald Trump, said it. He added that the foundation will not “close”, despite criticism of its practices.
Symbolic decision without impact
The director of the Geneva NGO Trial International, Philip Grant, believes that the dissolution of the Swiss antenna was “inevitable” in view of the non-compliance with its obligations.
In early June, Trial International had filed two complaints to the Swiss authorities, accentuating pressure on the government. They asked that light be shed on GHF, in particular to determine whether its activities respect Swiss law and international humanitarian law.
According to Philip Grant, “only procedures undertaken in the United States could concretely impact the operations of the Foundation in Gaza”. To date, no procedure of this kind has been initiated there, but legal procedures aimed at putting pressure on the NGO are underway in the country.
The Director General of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Swiss, Stephen Cornish, indicates “to greet the decision of the Swiss authorities” to dissolve the GHF and adds that it is “an important political signal and coherent with the humanitarian principles that Switzerland traditionally defends”.
According to him, the GHF distribution points are “fatal traps disguised in humanitarian aid” pushing “civilians to make an impossible choice: risking famine or risking being slaughtered”.
+ Read our explanatory article (in English) on the context of the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
A new controversial system
Since the end of May, the GHF, supported by the United States and Israel, has been operating a new humanitarian aid distribution system in Gaza, replacing the one that was previously provided by UN agencies, in particular UNRWA, and other NGOs. It includes four food distribution centers, located in military areas, managed by American armed contractors.
This mechanism is widely criticized by the humanitarian community, the main actors of which refuse to collaborate with the Foundation. According to Israel, the system must prevent a diversion from humanitarian aid by armed groups such as Hamas.
As a reminder, Israel imposed a humanitarian blockade in the Palestinian enclave in early March, prohibiting the entry of food convoys, drugs and other essential goods. The population of Gaza has thus found itself at the gulf of famine while the health system threatens to collapse. Since the implementation of GHF distribution centers, it has been only partially lifted.
In recent weeks, more than 500 people seeking food has been killed near the distribution sites while almost 4,000 others have been injured, according to figures relayed by the UN. For its part, the foundation indicates that no violent incident took place on the distribution sites or their proximity.
Israeli tanks take a stand next to a distribution center of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Khan Younès, Thursday, May 29, 2025.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
International criticisms
On Tuesday, more than 170 international NGOs called to dismantle the GHF aid system and requested its replacement by the old UN coordination mechanism.
About twenty European countries, including France and Germany, had also signed a letter in mid-May asking that the aid be organized again by the UN and the NGOs. Switzerland had not initialed it, evoking a trial of intention against the foundation.
After his visit to the Middle East, on June 10 and 11, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Swiss, Ignazio Cassis, said that the foundation “poses a problem because it does not respect humanitarian principles”, but that it was “learning them”.
Departure series
According to a RTS surveyExternal linkbroadcast on Wednesday, the Swiss representative of the GHF would have been misleading by foreign business partners, who would have requested it without giving it all the information on the reality of the Foundation plan. The Geneva lawyer then withdrew in the course of May, leading to the dissolution of the structure.
In the United States too, fears of non-compliance with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence had motivated several departures at the head of the Foundation, including its director Jake Wood, a former soldier who considers himself. The consulting firm Boston Consulting Group has also broken its operational support mandate in the face of the multiplication of criticism.
Text reread and verified by Virginie Mangin/Livm
