"Forgive me for my silence." This was expressed by Dutch-Palestinian model Bella Hadid as she finally addressed the Israel-Gaza conflict and conveyed her sadness regarding the loss of lives in the ongoing strife.
In her latest Instagram post, she highlighted the suffering of mothers who lost children, children who are left alone, and all the families impacted by the conflict.
"Seeing the aftermath from the airstrikes in Gaza, I mourn with all the mothers who have lost children and the children who cry alone, all the lost fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties, friends that will never again walk this earth,” she said.
Hadid is widely recognised for her outspoken advocacy for Palestine, in which her father is Palestinian who was born in Nazareth along with his family and had to leave their home following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
This Instagram post has gained more than 1 million likes and 60,000 comments.
In her text statement, Hadid expressed her condolences for Israeli families affected by the conflict and condemned terrorist attacks on civilians, emphasising that harming women and children does not benefit the Free Palestine movement.
"I mourn for the Israeli families that have been dealing with the pain and aftermath of Oct 7.
"Regardless of the history of the land, I condemn the terrorist attacks on any civilians, anywhere. Harming women and children and inflicting terror does not and should not do any good for the Free Palestine movement,” she added.
Hadid’s social media post featured a video mash-up and a text statement. In the video, a person wearing a keffiyeh was seen singing Lorde's "Team," along with older clips related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
She also said that wars have laws – and they must be upheld, no matter what.
She also urged everyone to keep pressure towards the leader and not to forget the needs of the people of Gaza while ensuring the Palestinian civilians are not the forgotten casualties of this war.
Hadid then appealed to the global community to tackle the humanitarian emergency in the region, urging them to supply essentials like hospital fuel, food, and clean water to the civilian population.
"I stand with humanity, knowing that peace and safety belong to us all,” she said.
The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since Oct 7 rose to 7,028, the Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Thursday.