- Tilda Swinton and Steve Coogan signed a letter appealing for a ceasefire in Gaza.
- In response to the Hamas attack, Israel carried out deadly airstrikes on Gaza.
- Human rights groups have voiced concern.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel carried out deadly airstrikes and placed a “total siege” on Gaza, triggering evacuations in preparation for a land invasion. Human rights groups have voiced concern that such measures might be classified as war crimes. As a result, over a million people have been evacuated, with serious water shortages and the likely collapse of healthcare institutions.
In reaction to the Israel-Hamas war, prominent Hollywood celebrities such as Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes, Charles Dance, Maxine Peake, and Peter Mullan have signed an open letter appealing for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The government is accused in the letter of tolerating and assisting war crimes. Among those who have signed the letter are filmmakers Mike Leigh, Asif Kapadia, and Michael Winterbottom, as well as actors Sam Heughan, Josie Long, and Frankie Boyle. The letter underscores the need to end the suffering in Gaza and requests a quick ceasefire and the unfettered introduction of humanitarian aid.
“We are witnessing a crime and a catastrophe. Israel has reduced much of Gaza to rubble and cut off the supply of water, power, food and medicine to 2.3 million Palestinians. In the words of the UN’s undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, ‘the spectre of death’ is hanging over the territory. Gaza is already a society of refugees and the children of refugees.
Now, in their hundreds of thousands, bombarded from air, sea and land, Palestinians whose grandparents were forced out of their homes at the barrel of a gun are again being told to flee – or face collective punishment on an unimaginable scale. Dispossessed of rights, described by Israel’s minister of defence as “human animals”, they have become people to whom almost anything can be done.
Our governments are not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them. There will come a time when they are held to account for their complicity. But for now, while condemning every act of violence against civilians and every infringement of international law whoever perpetrates them, our obligation is to do all we can to bring an end to the unprecedented cruelty being inflicted on Gaza.
We support the global movement against the destruction of Gaza and the mass displacement of the Palestinian people. We demand that our governments end their military and political support for Israel’s actions.
We call for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of Gaza’s crossings to allow humanitarian aid to enter unhindered, the letter says.
The letter’s other signatories include writers Tanika Gupta and Abbie Spallen, artist Poppy Jackson, and photographer Emily Rose.
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