The century-long conflict between Israel and Palestine reached a new level of conflict earlier this month after the horrific Oct. 7 terror attack on the Supernova Music Festival at Kibbutz Re’im by Hamas militants.
The assault by air and land by the militant arm of the terrorist organization that governs the more than two million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip included the killing of more than 260 revelers and many more kidnapped at the Paralello Universo Supernova Sukkot Gathering electronic dance music festival celebrating the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah.
Since then, Hamas fighters have killed more than 800 Israelis in various attacked throughout southern Israel, and Israel retaliated by launching bombs in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 500 Palestinians. Israel has also placed troops along the Gaza border and announced a “total blockade” of the Gaza Strip, stopping food, fuel and more commodities to the area.
While Hamas is just a small sector of the Palestinian population, the broader conflict between Israel and Palestine stems back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which committed the British government to “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
On Thursday (Oct. 19), President Joe Biden took to X to reveal that he’ll be addressing the ongoing Israel-Hamas war from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. ET. “Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel. The need for humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine. We are at a global inflection point that is bigger than party or politics,” he wrote.
As the violence continues, celebrities have taken to social media to send love to the families of victims whose lives were lost, and pray for peace at last between Israel and Palestine. See below for thoughts from Madonna, Lauren Jauregui, P!nk and more.
