DUBAI: Canadian singer Shawn Mendes and US Dutch Palestinian model Bella Hadid took to Instagram this week to call for support for Palestinians in Gaza.
Mendes opened his post, shared with his 68 million followers, with the words “FREE PALESTINE.”
“There is a genocide happening before our eyes. The senseless killing in Gaza must stop. The children and families in Palestine have suffered for far too long, and they need our help,” he wrote, before addressing other musicians directly: “My friends and fellow artists, I know it can feel scary to speak up; I feel it now as I type this … The more of us that use our voice, the closer we are to change.”
Hadid announced she had donated $50,000 to Tents of Hope’s Winter Tent Kits for Gaza, which she said would provide 100 families with a waterproof tent, blankets and mattresses.
“Winter has arrived in Gaza, and for hundreds of thousands of families, the only thing between them and the cold is a worn-out tent,” she wrote.
She said aid groups on the ground estimated that Gaza needed at least 300,000 tents.
“I’m not sharing this for the number. I’m sharing it because I believe that if enough of us act, the gap closes one family at a time,”
