Benedict Cumberbatch, Dua Lipa, Riz Ahmed & Annie Lennox Among 300 Signatories Of Letter Calling On UK PM Keir Starmer To Act On Gaza
Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed, Dua Lipa and Annie Lennox are among 300 public figures to have signed an open letter calling on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to end the country's 'complicity' in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
'We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK's complicity in the horrors in Gaza,' read the letter. '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.
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'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.'
The signatories called for an immediate suspension of all UK arms sales to Israel; immediate humanitarian access for experienced aid agencies and commitment from the UK government to assist in brokering a ceasefire.
Further entertainment world figures getting behind the letter include Tobias Menzies, Tilda Swinton, Toby Jones, Steve Coogan, Sadie Frost, Ruth Negga, Lily Cole, and Mark Ruffalo.
The initiative comes amid growing international disquiet about the 20-month Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, originally initiated in response to Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.
The death toll in Gaza currently stands at more than 54,000 people according to the latest figures released by the territory's Hamas-run health authority, with the territory on the brink of famine following Israel's 11-week blockade of food supplies.
The letter was initiated by Choose Love, an NGO providing emergency and support to displaced communities.
'We need action from Keir Starmer now,' said the agency's co-founder and CEO Josie Naughton. 'That means stopping all arms sales and licenses, making sure that legitimate humanitarian organisations can reach people in Gaza. It means doing everything possible to make these horrors end. Action is a choice, just as inaction is one. History will remember what we did in this moment. We are begging the Prime Minister to make the right choice.'
Israel resumed aid deliveries last week, but the United Nations says not enough supplies are making it into the territory to end food shortages. Overnight a crowd of desperate people broke into a warehouse in the strip looking for food, with two people killed and many injured in the scrum.
The governments of U.K. and Western allies including France, Italy, Germany and Canada have been emphatic in their backing of Israel in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
However, a number of European leaders have expressed concerns over the Israel's actions in Gaza in recent days.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a press conference in Finland earlier this week that Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza was 'beyond comprehension', while top EU diplomat, Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that Israeli strikes in Gaza went beyond what was 'necessary to fight Hamas'.
In the UK, Foreign Minister David Lammy summoned the Israeli ambassador and suspended talks on a trade deal on May 20, calling Israel's blockade on aid into Gaza, 'intolerable' and 'morally wrong, unjustifiable'. However, top UK trade envoy Lord Austin went ahead with a trip to Israel this week to bolster ties between the two countries.
Thursday's letter follows a number of similar and separate letters to Starmer this week, from groups ranging from top lawyers to a collective of UK and Ireland writers, with signatories including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan.
The full-list of signatories:
Abigail Lawrie
Abnit Nijjar
Afua Hirsch
Aimee Croysdill
Aisling Bea
Aiysha Hart
Alewya
Alex Eagle
Alex Hannaby
Alex Lockwood
Alex Lawther
Alex Boateng
Alexei Sayle
Alexi Lubomirski
Alexis Bamforth
Alice Aedy
Alison Oliver
Amalia Vitale
Amanda Rajkumar
Amber Massie-Blomfield
Amelia Dimoldenberg
Amy Jackson
Anais Aida
Andi Oliver
Andrea Kapos
Andrea Riseborough
Andrew Wilkinson
Andy Sewell
Anna Chancellor
Anna Hussain
Annabelle Wallis
Annie Lennox
Annie Mac
Anoushka Shankar
April De Angelis
Asif Kapadia
Basma Khalifa
Becky Bowe
Becky Hill
Bella Freud
Ben Howard
Benedict Cumberbatch
Bill Paterson
Brian Cox
Brian Eno
Caitriona Balfe
Callum Grieve
Camilla Brady
Camilla Whitehill
Camille Charriere
Candice Brathwaite
Carmen Busquets
Cassandra Stavrou
Cathy Runciman
Cecily Eno
Celina Teague
Charlene Ryan
Charlie Waterhouse
Charlie Murphy
Charlie Brooker
Chloe Abrahams
Chris O'Dowd
Clare Patey
Clover Hogan
Cosima Davies
Courttia Newland
Dame Harriet Walter
Dame Tracey Emin DBE RA
Dan Smith
Daniel Lismore
Danny Boyle
David Lan
Dawn O'Porter
Dawn Butler
Daze Aghaji
Deanna Rodger
Deborah Curtis
Deborah Frances-White
Deirdre Moran
Denise Gough
Dermot O'Leary
Díana Bermudez
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta
Dr Inua Ellams. MBE. FRSA. FRSL.
Dr James Smith
Dua Lipa
Dylan Brady
Ed Burnside
Ed Gillespie
Edward Davis
Eleanor Tomlinson
Elizabeth Slade
Ellis Howard
Emma Findlay
Emma Naomi
Eve De Haan
Eve Ensler
Everyday Racism
Farah Nabulsi
Farrah O connor
Federico Gaggio
Felix White
Fisayo Akinade
Frederica Lovell-Pank
Gary Lineker
Geoff Lumb
George Gwynne
Giada Lubomirski
Gideon Berger
Giles Duley
Giles Taylor
Gizzi Erskine
Grace Campbell
HAAi
Hannah Menzies
Hannah Lowe
Harriet Walter
Harry Williams
Hildegard Bechtler
Himesh Patel
Ian Drysdale
Ian Kershaw
Ian Rickson
Ieuan Williams
Imad Al Arnab
Imran Yusuf
Indira Varma
Isabella Nefar
Jack Casey
Jack Rooke
Jake Dunn
James Smith
James McVey
Jamie Byng
Jan Woolf
Jemima Khan
Jen Brister
Jess Mills
Jessica Fostekew
Jessie Ware
Jo Rendle
Joel Gray
Joel Murphy
John Fass
John Keane
John Lithgow
Johnny Bleasdale
Jolyon Maugham KC
Jolyon Rubinstein
Jon Hopkins
Jonathan Pryce
Jordan Stephens
Joy Crookes
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Juliet Stevenson
Juno Dawson
Katharine Hamnett
Kathy Lette
Katie Davies
Katie Leung
Kelly Eastwood
Kerry McDermott
Khalid Abdalla
Konnie Huq
Laline Paull
Lara Savikl
Laura Hawkins
Laura Whitmore
Laura Bailey
Lauren Lyle
Lauren Mayberry
LED BY DONKEYS
Lee Hall
Lena De casparis
Lena Headey
Lennie Ware
Leyla Hussein
Liam Smith
Lilly Heine
Lily Cole
Linda Maitland
Lise Mayer
Livia Giuggioli Firth
Lolly Adefope
Lorna Tucker-McGarvey
Lottie Coll
Louisa Young
Love Ssega
Lydia West
Mabel
Mackenzie Davis
Maddy Neghabian
Mae Martin
Malcolm Garrett
Marcia Cross
Margo Mars
Mark Grimmer
Mark Ruffalo
Marli Siu
MASSIVE ATTACK
Matt Black
Matt Haig
Max Porter
Maxine Peake
Meera Soda
Melisa Basol
Merck Mercuriadis
Mhoira Leng
Michael Collins
Michelle Mao
Misan Harriman
Mohsan Alvi
Morgan Spector
Moss Barclay
Munroe Bergdorf
Myriam Francois
Nabhaan Rizwan
Nadia Sawalha
Najjib Rahman
Nancy Strang
Nansi Nsue
Natalie Pinkham
Nathalie Emmanuel
Nathaniel Curtis
Neil Griffiths
Neneh Cherry
Nicholas Donovan
Nicola Coughlan
Nicola Thorp
Nicole Cox
Nihal Arthanayake
Nikesh Shukla
Nikesh Patel
Nikita Gill
Nilly (Pauline) Brook
Nish Kumar
Noé Sébert
Noomi Rapace
Olivia Marcus
Olivia West
Oluwakemi Davies
Omar Abdel-Mannan
Onjali Q Rauf
Ophelie Bedier
Paapa Essiedu
Paloma Faith
Patrick Walker
Paul Ewen
Paul Laverty
Paul Reynolds
Payzee Mahmod
Pete Wyer
Peter Straughan
Phoebe Collings-James
Poppy Ajudha
Primal Scream
Professor Jacqueline Rose
Rachel Chinouriri
Raghib Ali
Rebecca Hall
Rehana Kapadia
Richard Bacon
Riz Ahmed
Robert Diament
Robert Gilbert
Roger Hartley
Rosa Hesmondhalgh
Rose Williams
Rosie O'Donnell
Ruby Stokes
Ruth Negga
Sabrina Mahfouz
Sadie Frost
Salena Godden
Sam Fender
Sam Roddick
Samuel West
Savannah Miller
Scott ODonnell
Seamus McGarvey
Shalini Peiris
Shappi Khorsandi
Sharmadean Reid
Sharon Watson
Shelagh Wright
Sheridan Kates
Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
Siobhán McSweeney
Sophia Di Martino
Sophie Hunter
Sophie Willan
Stephen Kapos
Steve Coogan
Sunetra Sarker
Susan Wokoma
Sydney Lima
Sylvia Banafsheh Brook
Taban Shoresh OBE
Tadhg Hickey
Tallulah Greive
Tanya Haj-Hassan
Tilda Swinton
Tim McInnerny
Tobias Menzies
Toby Jones
Tom Rutherford
Tony 'Gad' Robinson
Tracey Seaward
Twana Omer
Tyler Richardson
Tyson McVey
Vic Hope
Victoria Harwood
Victoria Moseley
Waad Al-Kateab
Waleed Elgadi
Will Attenborough
Will Sharpe
WolfAlice
Wretch 32
Yasmin Evans
Yomi Adegoke
Zareen Rahman
Zarlasht Halaimzai
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