Criticizing Israeli bombing in Gaza, Angelina Jolie asserts that “world leaders are complicit in these crimes”
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has denounced Israel’s air campaign in Gaza as “murder” and “the deliberate bombing of a trapped population,” due to the ongoing conflict there. “This is the deliberate bombing of a trapped population who have nowhere to flee,” Jolie captioned a snapshot of a recent Israeli attack in the heavily populated Strip that she posted on Instagram. Jolie previously worked as a special representative to the UNHCR.
“Gaza is quickly turning into a mass cemetery after serving as an open-air jail for over 20 years. A quarter of those slain are defenseless kids. Families as a whole are being killed, she said. “Millions of Palestinian civilians—children, women, and families—are being collectively punished and dehumanized while the world watches and with the active support of many governments, all while being deprived of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid in violation of international law,” she said.
The request for a truce comes as US officials, responding to Hamas’ October 7 onslaught that claimed the lives of 1400 Israelis, have been frantically moving across the Middle East and declaring that they would not control how the Israelis conduct their military operations. Meanwhile, the Hamas-run authorities claim that 8,805 Palestinians have lost their lives in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Thirty-one Palestinians have lost their lives in violence and Israeli incursions in the West Bank.
In response to the October 7 deaths in Israeli towns, foreign leaders have urged for a truce while Israel works to destroy Hamas’s infrastructure in the Strip. US President Joe Biden said that he believed the Israel-Hamas conflict should halt for humanitarian reasons after a demonstrator demanding a cease-fire disrupted his Wednesday night campaign rally. “World leaders are complicit in these crimes by refusing to demand a humanitarian ceasefire and blocking the UN Security Council from imposing one on both parties,” Jolie said in the essay.
From 2001 to 2012, Jolie was a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and from 2012 to 2022, she was a Special Envoy. In December 2022, she resigned from her position to focus on a wider range of humanitarian and human rights concerns. She is still a fervent supporter of refugees and other displaced people, however. She conducted more than 60 field visits while working for UNHCR to see the suffering of refugees and internally displaced persons. She also promoted the rights of refugees by using her position to campaign for problems pertaining to them.
