Switzerland has cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, its Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed on Thursday,

GazaSwitzerland has cancelled a scheduled international conference to discuss the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories due to a lack of participants, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

There was 'no desire from the other contracting parties to postpone or continue,' says Franz Perrez, head of directorate of international law at Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs - Anadolu A

Switzerland has informed states that it has cancelled a conference on the application of the Geneva Conventions to the occupied Palestinian territories for want of participants, three diplomatic sources told Reuters on Thursday.

The Palestinian Authority ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, tells Reuters that his delegation did not plan to attend the event, criticizing a draft declaration circulated among participants.

Switzerland has invited 196 states who are parties to the Geneva Conventions to participate in a conference next week on the situation of civilians living in the Israeli occupied territories, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.