Benedict Cumberbatch, Dua Lipa, Riz Ahmed and Annie Lennox are among more than 300 public figures who have signed an open letter urging U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “take immediate action to end the U.K.’s complicity in the horrors in Gaza.”
“Right now, children in Gaza are starving while food and medicine sit just minutes away, blocked at the border,” read the letter, published online Thursday. “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.”
It continues: “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 call for three measures:
• Immediate suspension of U.K. arms sales to Israel.
• Humanitarian access for experienced aid agencies.
• A commitment from the U.K. to help broker a ceasefire.
Other signatories include actors Steve Coogan, Tilda Swinton, Mark Ruffalo, Ruth Negga, Tobias Menzies, Lily Cole and Sadie Frost.
The effort is led by Choose Love, a U.K.-based NGO focused on displaced communities. CEO Josie Naughton told Deadline that Gaza needs “action now” from world leaders like Mr. Starmer.
“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,” Ms. Naughton said. “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.”
The appeal comes amid international criticism of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which Palestinians killed 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages. According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since then.
The Trump administration has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, involving a hostage-prisoner exchange and increased humanitarian aid.
Israel’s government has backed the plan, but Hamas rejected it, citing unmet demands like a full ceasefire and Israeli troop withdrawal.
Although Israel resumed some aid deliveries to Gaza last week, the United Nations says humanitarian access remains critically limited. On Thursday, a crowd in Gaza broke into a warehouse in search of food, resulting in two deaths and multiple injuries.
Meanwhile, public pressure on Mr. Starmer is mounting. The celebrities’ open letter is just one of several recent and public appeals.
European allies, too, have begun to voice stronger criticism of Israel on the world stage. In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz labeled Israel’s bombardment of Gaza “beyond comprehension.”
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has insisted the Israeli strikes “go beyond what is necessary to fight Hamas.”
• Emma Ayers can be reached at eayers@washingtontimes.com.