Israel offers help to Switzerland after deadly ski resort blaze kills dozens
President Isaac Herzog spoke Thursday with his Swiss counterpart, Guy Parmelin, and offered help after some 40 partygoers were killed and 115 were injured in a blaze at a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, citing Israel’s experience dealing with burn victims in the wake of the October 7 Hamas massacre.
One Israeli emergency services organization is already sending a team to the site of the tragedy.
Herzog’s offer came following the fire early on Thursday at a New Year’s celebration, one of the Alpine nation’s worst tragedies. Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.
“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.
Herzog’s office said in a statement that the president expressed his condolences to Parmelin on behalf of Israel and told him that Israel was ready to assist in any way it could, as Swiss authorities face the challenging task of identifying the victims.
He told the Swiss president that Israel has “experience and advanced capabilities in the fields of locating and identifying victims of fires, as well as in the treatment of burn victims in fire-related incidents, acquired during emergencies and disasters over many years, particularly since October 7.”
Parmelin thanked Herzog, the president’s office says, and told him that the Swiss Foreign Ministry “has........





















Toi Staff
Sabine Sterk
Gideon Levy
Waka Ikeda
Tarik Cyril Amar
Mark Travers Ph.d
Grant Arthur Gochin