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Pop icon Madonna is pleading with Pope Leo to travel to Gaza to “bring your light to the children before it’s too late.”
She posted a message online saying that her plea was motivated by her son Rocco’s birthday.
“I feel the best gift I can give to him as a mother – is to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza,” Madonna wrote.
The singer, who was raised Roman Catholic, added the pontiff was “the only one of us who cannot be denied entry” into Gaza, adding that “there is no more time.”
“I am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides,” she wrote. “Everyone is suffering. I am merely trying to do what I can to keep these children from dying of starvation.”
UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, tweeted last week that “more than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza over the last 22 months” and that “in Gaza, an average of 28 children a day – the size of a classroom – have been killed.”
Israel denies a famine is taking place or that children are starving. It says it has supplied enough food throughout the war and accuses Hamas of stealing aid.
UN human rights experts and UN bodies have said that Israel’s military actions in Gaza may amount to genocide and the International Court of Justice has found claims of genocide plausible. Israel rejects the accusations and denies committing any war crimes.
The pope has recently renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect humanitarian laws and the obligation to protect civilians.
“I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the pontiff said last month.
Madonna is the latest prominent figure in the world of music to speak out for Palestinians in Gaza.
On Sunday, the four members of U2 – Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. – wrote personal responses to Israel’s actions in Gaza (See above).
After his condemnation of Hamas’ “diabolical” actions, Bono wrote that Benjamin Netenyahu and the Israeli government deserve “our categorical and unequivocal condemnation”.
“There is no justification for the brutality [Netanyahu] and his far right government have inflicted on the Palestinian people… in Gaza… in the West Bank. And not just since October 7, well before it too… though the level of depravity and lawlessness we are seeing now feels like uncharted territory.”
He continued: “And now Netanyahu announces a military takeover of Gaza City… which most informed commentators understand as a euphemism for the colonization of Gaza.”
U2 bassist Adam Clayton wrote that “preserving civilian life is a choice in this war”, while drummer Larry Mullen Jr. said: “It’s difficult to comprehend how any civilised society can think starving children is going to further any cause and be justified as an acceptable response to another horror.”
He added that “starving innocent civilians as a weapon of war is inhumane and criminal.”
Additional sources • AP