Geneva: Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been targeted with a criminal complaint during a visit to Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors said Friday, amid allegations of crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza.
The Federal Prosecutor鈥檚 Office (BA) confirmed that it had received a criminal complaint against the Israeli president, who was at the World Economic Forum (WEF)鈥檚 annual meeting in Davos on Thursday to discuss the Gaza war.
鈥淭he criminal complaints will now be examined in accordance with the usual procedure,鈥� BA said in a statement, adding that it was in contact with the foreign ministry 鈥渢o examine the question of the immunity of the person concerned.鈥�
It did not say what the specific complaints were, or who had filed them.

WEF confirmed to Arab News that Swiss authorities did not contact them regarding the complaint against the Israeli president.

But a statement allegedly issued by the people behind the complaint, entitled 鈥淟egal Action Against Crimes Against Humanity鈥� and obtained by AFP, said several unnamed individuals had filed charges with federal prosecutors and with cantonal authorities in Basel, Bern and Zurich.
The statement said the plaintiffs were seeking a criminal prosecution in parallel to a case brought before the UN鈥檚 International Court of Justice by South Africa, which accuses Israel of genocide in its offensive in Gaza.
Addressing the issue of immunity, the statement suggested that it could be lifted 鈥渋n certain circumstances,鈥� including in cases of alleged crimes against humanity, adding that 鈥渢hese conditions are met in this case.鈥�
South Africa launched the emergency case at the ICJ in The Hague this month, arguing that Israel had breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
South Africa demanded that the judges order Israel to halt its offensive in the Palestinian territory. Israel has denounced the case as 鈥渄istorted.鈥�
Fighting has ravaged the Gaza Strip since Hamas鈥檚 attacks on Israel on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel responded with a relentless offensive that has killed at least 24,762 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to Gaza鈥檚 Hamas-run health ministry.
Herzog told the Davos forum that Israel had launched its campaign in 鈥渟elf-defense鈥� and again condemned the South Africa case as 鈥渙utrageous.鈥�
鈥淭hey (South Africa) basically support the atrocities and barbarism that we have seen on October 7,鈥� he said, adding that Israel was concerned about the destruction in Gaza.
鈥淲e care. It is painful for us that our neighbors are suffering so much,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut how else can we defend ourselves if our enemies decided to entrench themselves in an infrastructure of terror of unbelievable size and scope?鈥� he said.