On the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
Can the Trump administration’s 20-point plan improve the situation of the Palestinian population in Gaza?
by Georg Koch, editorial team “Swiss Standpoint”
(12 December 2025) Will the UN Security Council resolution of 17 November 2025 and the Trump administration’s 20-point plan approved by it improve the situation of the Palestinian population in Gaza?
With an ever-growing proportion of the world’s population unwilling or no longer willing to justify the Israeli military’s actions against the Palestinian population as “self-defence” in response to the attacks by Hamas and others against Israel on 7 October 2023, the Trump administration agreed with the Israeli government on a “20-point plan”, which is intended to lead to a ceasefire and an end to the humanitarian catastrophe. According to Amnesty International, at least 67,900 Palestinians have been killed so far, including over 20,000 children.1
Meanwhile, research teams at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock assume that, due to the large number of people buried under rubble, “at least 100,000 people have apparently died or been killed in the war, which has lasted more than two years.”2
Israel has prevented the most basic humanitarian rights, such as clean water, food, shelter and medical care, from being upheld. Numerous international law experts, human rights experts and historians – including quite a few Jews and Holocaust experts – support the accusation against the Israeli government before the International Criminal Court of causing genocide against the Palestinian civilian population. Almost all Western governments have made themselves complicit with their more than tolerant attitude towards Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law.
On 29 September, Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to President Trump’s 20-point plan. On 13 October, in accordance with this agreement, Hamas handed over the last surviving hostages to Israel, which in return released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Finally, more aid deliveries were allowed into the Gaza Strip – but according to aid organisations, still far too few.
Is there now hope for peace for the civilian population, or at least an improvement in their situation?
Recent reports from the “International Red Cross” ICRC and other aid organisations, news of the suffering of the civilian population due to the absolute lack of supplies, especially now that the cold rainy season is approaching, and reports from the UN and Israeli human rights organisations show how much unbearable suffering continues to be inflicted on the people. Innocent civilians, including many children, continue to die. International pressure to respect human rights, to treat all peoples as equals and to comply with the UN Charter and international humanitarian law remains necessary.
Cardinal Pierbatista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, highlighted the difficulty of further developments in an interview with Swiss television SRF on 15 November:
“There is no trust whatsoever between Israelis and Palestinians. There is hatred. [...] The Israelis perceive 7 October as a kind of “mini-Shoah”, as an existential threat. The Palestinians, in turn, believe that the Israelis want to drive them all, yes all of them, into the sea. Rebuilding trust in this context is not easy. [...] After 7 October and the Gaza war, we are not in a position to meet and understand each other – with a few exceptions. Everyone is so caught up in their own pain and perspective that there is no room for the pain of others. But we must first acknowledge the pain of others and then, step by step, address the issues we have avoided until now.”
Below, “Swiss Standpoint” documents a short report by the Israeli human rights organisation “B’Tselem”* on the current situation. You will also find a link to “Resolution 2803 (2025)” of the UN Security Council of 17 November with Annex 1, which contains the Trump administration’s 20-point plan.3
(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)
A month into the “ceasefire” deal:
by B’Tselem*
Since the ceasefire agreement took effect on 10 October 2025, Israel has killed at least 241 Palestinians in Gaza, 117 of them children. More than 600 people have been injured.
Israel continues to hamper the entry of humanitarian aid and starve the population, denying about 75% of aid entry requests. It committed in the agreement to allow 600 aid trucks in a day, yet only 145 trucks on average have been allowed in.
The agreement did not establish an international mechanism to ensure Israel upholds its obligations under international law. Israel continues to bomb, starve and destroy Gaza unrestrained.
Most people in Gaza are homeless, hungry and lacking access to basic services, yet world leaders are standing by, issuing empty statements and enabling the normalization of this unbearable reality.
The international community must act now to ensure protection for Palestinians, the immediate entry of humanitarian aid, and accountability for those responsible for the genocide.
Source: https://x.com/btselem/status/1987887811970642127, 10 November 2025
1 https://www.amnesty.de/israel-palaestina-gaza-nahostkonflikt
2 https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2025-11/kriegstote-gazastreifen-opferzahlen-schaetzung
3 20-point plan
English: https://docs.un.org/en/S/RES/2803(2025)
French: https://docs.un.org/fr/S/RES/2803(2025)
German: https://www.un.org/german/sites/default/files/2025-11/sr2803.pdf