Steve Coogan reads the names of over 15,000 children killed in Gaza at vigil

Metro

30-05-2025

Steve Coogan made a statement at a vigil at the Houses of Parliament as he read the names of 15,000 children who have died in Gaza.
The actor and comedian, 59, was among the many people at the vigil organised by Choose Love on Thursday morning.
The Alan Partridge actor, was one of the many artists who, for several minutes, read a long list of names of children who had been killed during the Israel-Hamas war.
'They were the names of children who have been killed in the bombing of Gaza in the last 20 months.
'It was just showing that those names are not just statistics, they are real people, real children who had lives who died and it's to some extent to humanise them.
'There's a world war phrase that one death is a tragedy and 10 thousand is a statistic,' he said, speaking to Sky News he said that he was at the event.
In the same interview, he added: 'I'm here to protest about the, basically, enforced starvation of thousands of women and children in Gaza by the weaponisation of the blockade on aid to those people.
'And also it's to give this the coverage that a lot of mainstream news outlets aren't giving.'
He said human rights should apply to everyone, and criticised tough rhetoric from governments in the UK, France and Canada as
He added that human rights should be applied to every human and rhetoric from UK, French, and Canadian governments was 'too little, too late'.
'Tragically, it's taken the mass, indiscriminate killing of innocent people to get to this stage,' he said.
'I think more and more people are realising that it has to stop.'
Juliet Stevenson, best known for acting in Bend It Like Beckham and Truly, Madly, Deeply, was also among the actors reading the exhaustive list of names.
This vigil comes as the celebrities supporting Palestine grow, with stars including Dua Lipa, Gary Lineker and Benedict Cumberbatch calling on the Government to suspend arms sales to Israel in an open letter. More Trending
The open letter read: 'We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK's complicity in the horrors in Gaza.'
It highlights: 'Right now, children in Gaza are starving while food and medicine sit just minutes away, blocked at the border. Words won't feed Palestinian children – we need action. Every single one of Gaza's 2.1 million people is at risk of starvation, as you read this.'
'Mothers, fathers, babies, grandparents – an entire people left to starve before the world's eyes. 290,000 children are on the brink of death – starved by the Israeli government for more than 70 days.'
This was about Israel's 11-week blockade of food and other supplies into Gaza, which was lifted last week to allow a 'basic amount of food into Gaza'.
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