Switzerland on Wednesday initiated proceedings to dissolve the Geneva branch of the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid group, citing legal shortcomings in its establishment.
The GHF began handing out food packages in the Gaza Strip at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid deliveries that has drawn UN and international criticism.
The GHF is registered in the US state of Delaware and has registered an affiliate in Geneva on February 12. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Swiss move to shut down its Geneva office.
"The ESA may order the dissolution of the foundation if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period," the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) said in a creditors' notice published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce on Wednesday.
The ESA told Reuters the GHF had not fulfilled certain legal requirements, including having the correct number of board members, a postal address, or a Swiss bank account.
Switzerland moves to dissolve GHF
"GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland...and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered (branch)," the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities issued a separate legal notice to the GHF to remedy within 30 days "deficiencies in the organization" or face potential action.
The GHF has said that it has delivered more than 52 million meals to needy Palestinians in five weeks and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted."
There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies in Gaza after a nearly two-year war by Israel against Hamas that has displaced most of the enclave's two million inhabitants and left much of it in rubble.