Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie issued a statement about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Saturday.
She wrote on Instagram, “Like millions around the world I have spent the last weeks sick and angry at the terrorist attack in Israel, the death of so many innocent civilians, and wondering how best to help.”
“I too am praying for the immediate, safe return of every hostage, and for the families who carry the unimaginable pain of a murder of a loved one,” she said, but later added that the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel “cannot justify the innocent lives lost” in Gaza.
Jolie continued by writing that the population of Gaza “has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge.”
Read the full post in Instagram below:
Jolie, who worked with refugees for two decades as an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also said her “focus is on the people displaced by violence in any context.”
Israel told residents of Gaza to move to the south of the strip on Oct. 18. The IDF said a “humanitarian zone” would be set up in Al-Mawasi, 17 miles from Gaza City. Al-Mawasi is a neighborhood inside the Khan Younis refugee camp.
Israeli forces have continued airstrikes in Khan Younis since telling Gazans to evacuate toward the camp.
Jolie also pointed to the paltry amount of humanitarian aid that has been allowed to enter Gaza at the Egyptian border. She wrote, “The few aid trucks that are entering are a fraction of what is needed (and was delivered daily before the conflict), and the bombings are causing desperate new humanitarian needs daily. The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people.”
On Thursday, U.N. World Food Programme executive director Cindy McCain said that strict checks on the trucks attempting to enter at the Rafah border crossing have caused a delay in delivering aid to those who need it the most.
Jolie ended her post with a call to action for her followers, writing, “Anything that can prevent civilian casualties and save lives must be done. Like many others I have donated to medical relief efforts. I have chosen to support the work of Doctors Without Borders and have been closely following their reporting.”
On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (or Médecins Sans Frontières) called for “the unequivocal protection of all medical facilities, staff and civilians across the Gaza Strip.”
