#Angelina Jolie Says Hamas Terrorist Attacks in Israel “Cannot Justify the Innocent Lives Lost in Bombing” in Gaza

Angelina Jolie has shared a statement amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

The Oscar-winning actress took to Instagram Saturday, writing, “Like millions around the world I have spent the last weeks sick and angry at the terrorist attack in Israel, the death of so many innocent civilians, and wondering how best to help. I too am praying for the immediate, safe return of every hostage, and for the families who carry the unimaginable pain of a murder of a loved one. Above all, the children murdered, and the many children now orphaned.”

She continued, “What happened in Israel is an act of terror. But that cannot justify the innocent lives lost in bombing a civilian population in Gaza that has nowhere to go, no access to food or water, no possibility of evacuation, and not even the basic human right to cross a border to seek refuge.”

For 20 years, Jolie worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, campaigning in support of forcibly displaced people around the world. She first joined in 2001 as a UN goodwill ambassador and then in 2012, she was made a special envoy. Last year, she stepped down from her role with the UNHCR, saying at the time that she wanted to tackle a wider set of humanitarian and human rights issues.

“My focus is on the people displaced by violence in any context,” Jolie’s statement read. “Gaza has a population of over 2 million people (half of them children), who have lived under a severe blockade for nearly two decades, on top of decades of displacement and statelessness.”

She added, “The few aid trucks that are entering are a fraction of what is needed (and was delivered daily before the present conflict), and the bombings are causing desperate new humanitarian needs daily. The denial of aid, fuel and water is collectively punishing a people. Humanity demands an immediate ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli lives – and the lives of all people globally – matter equally.”

Since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, leading to a death toll in the thousands, the conflict has continued to escalate. In response, Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip and retaliated with airstrikes.

A week ago, the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened to allow just a handful of trucks carrying aid into the territory – an amount that aid workers have said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis, the Associated Press reported.

Jolie concluded Saturday’s statement by noting that she continues to donate to medical relief efforts and has “chosen to support the work of Doctors Without Borders”