Left: Drake, photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage. Right: Jennifer Lopez, photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic. Photos via Getty Images.
Drake and Jennifer Lopez are among 120 prominent entertainment figures who’ve added their names to an open letter published last week, urging President Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. The letter now has 240 signatories — double its original count.
Previously signed by Dua Lipa, Devonté Hynes, and Caroline Polachek, Kaytranada, and Killer Mike (among many other musical artists), the Oxfam-supported letter opens as follows:
“We come together as artists and advocates, but most importantly as human beings witnessing the devastating loss of lives and unfolding horrors in Israel and Palestine. We ask that, as President of the United States, you and the US Congress call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost.”
The letter goes on to describe the deadly cost of the ongoing violence between Hamas and the Israeli government. At the time of its publication, more than 7,000 people had been killed in the conflict — 1,400 Israelis in a surprise attack on October 7, including 260 at a music festival, and close to 6,000 Palestinians due to Israel’s retaliatory bombings and blockade. Hamas has retained all but four of the roughly 220 Israeli hostages they took during their initial attack.
In the five days since, the Israeli Defense Forces have mounted a ground invasion in Gaza. The Associated Press reported this morning (October 30) that Palestinian casualties have now risen above 8,000, with most of the dead comprising women and minors.
A quote from UNICEF spokesperson James Elder embedded in the letter lays out some of the more insidious costs of the conflict that coverage focused on Israel’s military campaign often misses:
Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of air strikes and cuts to all supply routes. Gaza’s sole power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday afternoon, shutting down electricity, water and wastewater treatment. Most residents can no longer get drinking water from service providers or household water through pipelines.... The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion — and international law — must prevail.
According to the AP, a convoy of close to 40 trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, October 29 — the largest distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza since the war began 23 days ago. But relief workers told the publication that “the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.”
Read the full letter to President Biden below.
Dear President Biden,
We come together as artists and advocates, but most importantly as human beings witnessing the devastating loss of lives and unfolding horrors in Israel and Palestine.
We ask that, as President of the United States, you and the US Congress call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the last week and a half – a number any person of conscience knows is catastrophic. We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.
We urge your administration, Congress, and all world leaders, to honor all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages. Half of Gaza’s two million residents are children, and more than two thirds are refugees and their descendants being forced to flee their homes. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach them.
We believe that the United States can play a vital diplomatic role in ending the suffering and we are adding our voices to those from the US Congress, UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, The International Committee of The Red Cross, and so many others. Saving lives is a moral imperative. To echo UNICEF, “Compassion — and international law — must prevail.”
As of this writing more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the last 12 days - resulting in one child being killed every 15 minutes.
Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed.
We refuse to tell future generations the story of our silence, that we stood by and did nothing. As Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths told UN News, “History is watching.”
