Jenna Ortega and Dua Lipa are both doubling down on calling for a ceasefire in new posts of support for people in Gaza.
Jenna Ortega's Instagram post on May 28 comes after Israel’s latest attacks on Rafah, which, according to Reuters, killed 45 people (and injured 110, according to the Gaza Health Ministry) over the weekend at a camp for displaced civilians.
“Masses debating over a ceasefire while thousands upon thousands of children continue being slaughtered,” Ortega wrote bluntly on Instagram. “Where is the humanity.” She also shared a link to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund on her Instagram Story, and a post calling for “All Eyes on Rafah.” As of March 2024, UNICEF reported that more than 13,000 children had been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed around 1,200 people.
It’s not the first time Ortega has expressed support for Palestine. In March 2022, she tweeted from her now-defunct account, “We must never give up on the people of Ukraine, Yemen, Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, Syria… the list goes on, unfortunately.” She also signed the Artists4Ceasefire letter back in October 2023. The letter calls for the immediate release of the hostages captured and a permanent ceasefire. “We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity, and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians,” the letter states.
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Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, shared a statement about the attacks on May 27, calling them “horrific.”
“The images from the camp are horrific and point to no apparent change in the methods and means of warfare used by Israel that have already led to so many civilian deaths,” he said in a news release. “Sunday’s strike underscores once again that there is literally no safe place in Gaza.”
Ortega is not the only celebrity to speak up this week after new videos and photos — including some of injured and beheaded children — from the aftermath of the attacks in Rafah spread online. Ariana Grande also shared a link to the PCRF on IG Stories on May 28.
On the same day, Dua Lipa, who had previously publicly called for a ceasefire in January, shared a slide from Artists4Ceasefire with the hashtag #AllEyesonRafah demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire. “Burning children alive can never be justified. The whole world is mobilizing to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza,” Lipa wrote on the slide. (Like Ortega, Lipa also signed the Artists4Ceasefire letter in October 2023.)
Performers such as Nicola Coughlan, Kehlani, and Ethel Cain have also continued their months (and, in some cases, years) of advocacy with renewed posts calling for aid to Palestinians and sharing information about the attacks.
“To me it always becomes about supporting all innocent people, which sounds oversimplified, but I think you’ve got to look at situations and just think, Are we supporting innocent people no matter where they’re from, who they are? That’s my drive,” Coughlan told Teen Vogue in her April 2024 cover story. She said of Hollywood's reaction, "You do get told, ‘You won’t get work,’ ‘You won’t do this.’ But I also think, deep down, if you know that you’re coming from a place of ‘I don’t want any innocent people to suffer,’ then I’m not worried about people’s reactions.”
Ortega is familiar with that reaction; her Scream franchise costar Melissa Barrera was reportedly fired from the latest installment after posting about the Israel-Hamas War. In a statement to Variety, the film's production company said, “Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.” Barrera's comments included calling Gaza a ”concentration camp" where everyone is “cornered” together “with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories."
Barrera said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that Ortega had reached out to her in support. “We chatted for a while, and I love her so much. She’s been very supportive of me, and we’re sisters for life," Barrera said.
This post has been updated to include Dua Lipa's comments.
