Photo by Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP) (Photo by PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images.
Madonna has shared an open letter to Pope Leo XIV asking him to visit Gaza and bring awareness to the enclave currently suffering from a starvation crisis caused by Israel’s ongoing restrictions of food and other aid. “Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late,” she wrote on Instagram.
Dozens of people, including children, have died over the past several weeks as food permitted into Gaza remains far below the levels required to sustain the life of its 2.1 million inhabitants, sending Gaza to “the brink of a full-scale famine.” Aid distribution within Gaza has been violent and chaotic, with air drops killing civilians and Israeli soldiers at US-backed distribution centers routinely opening fire on desperate Gazans.
Over 100 children have died of starvation since October 7, 2023, according to local reports. “As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering,” Madonna wrote. “We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children.”
In her Instagram caption, Madonna wrote that she was “not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides,” and called for the remaining 50 hostages held by Hamas to be freed. “I pray that they are released as well.” She concluded her post asking her followers to “join [her] in donating” to the meal distribution charity World Central Kitchen, the Palestinian women’s advocacy group Women of the Sun, and the Israeli anti-war group Women Wage Peace.
