Actress Angelina Jolie strongly criticized Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to a devastating terrorist attack by Hamas, resulting in the deaths of over 1,400 Israelis, most of whom were civilians.
On Saturday, in an Instagram post, Jolie rightfully condemned the attack on Israel and then criticized the IDF’s assault on Gaza.
“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. Above all, the children murdered, and the many children now orphaned,” she said.
“What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that 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,” she continued.
The actress chose not to mention that the nearby countries in the region, such as Egypt, have rejected accepting Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
Jolie asserted she cares mostly about people “displaced by violence in any context” while noting the Gaza Strip “has a population of over 2 million people (half of them children), who have lived under a severe blockade for nearly two decades, on top of decades of displacement and statelessness.”
“The few aid trucks that are entering are a fraction of what is needed (and was delivered daily before the present conflict), and the bombings are causing desperate new humanitarian needs daily,” she continued.
“The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people. Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli lives – and the lives of all people globally – matter equally,” she added.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jolie has collaborated with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for more than 20 years and consistently advocates for “the assistance of forcibly displaced individuals worldwide.”
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