Benedict Cumberbatch is among the 300 public figures who are calling for the British government to stop letting UK arms be sold to Israel and to broker a ceasefire. Getty Images
Benedict Cumberbatch is among the 300 public figures who are calling for the British government to stop letting UK arms be sold to Israel and to broker a ceasefire. Getty Images
Benedict Cumberbatch is among the 300 public figures who are calling for the British government to stop letting UK arms be sold to Israel and to broker a ceasefire. Getty Images
Benedict Cumberbatch is among the 300 public figures who are calling for the British government to stop letting UK arms be sold to Israel and to broker a ceasefire. Getty Images

Culture

Benedict Cumberbatch and Dua Lipa among 300 public figures calling UK government to end 'complicity' in Gaza

Letter addressed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calls for urgent action

Razmig Bedirian
Razmig Bedirian

May 29, 2025

  • English
  • Arabic

More than 300 public figures have signed an open letter calling on the British government to cease what they describe as its “complicity in the horrors in Gaza.”

The letter was initiated by the UK-based charity Choose Love and is addressed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It features figures from across the entertainment industry, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Dua Lipa, Annie Lennox, Tilda Swinton and Riz Ahmed.

“We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity in the horrors in Gaza,” the letter, obtained by Sky News, reads. “Right now, children in Gaza are starving while food and medicine sit just minutes away, blocked at the border. Words won’t feed Palestinian children – we need action. Every single one of Gaza’s 2.1 million people is at risk of starvation, as you read this.

Filmmaker Farah Nabulsi is among the Arab figures who have signed the letter. Getty Images
Filmmaker Farah Nabulsi is among the Arab figures who have signed the letter. Getty Images

“Mothers, fathers, babies, grandparents – an entire people left to starve before the world’s eyes," the letter continues. "290,000 children are on the brink of death – starved by the Israeli government for more than 70 days.”

The letter urges the British government to block sales of UK arms to Israel. It also calls for immediate humanitarian access to Palestinians for aid agencies, and for the UK to help in brokering a ceasefire.

“Words won’t save the lives of Palestinian children as they are being killed, words won’t fill their empty stomachs,” Josie Naughton, co-founder and chief executive of Choose Love, said in the open letter.

“We need action from Keir Starmer now. That means stopping all arms sales and licences, making sure that legitimate humanitarian organisations can reach people in Gaza. It means doing everything possible to make these horrors end. Action is a choice, just as inaction is one. History will remember what we did in this moment. We are begging the Prime Minister to make the right choice.”

The letter was co-signed a handful of Arab figures, including surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta and filmmakers Farah Nabulsi and Waad Al Kateab.

“History is written in moments of moral clarity,” the letter concludes. "This is one. The world is watching and history will not forget. The children of Gaza cannot wait another minute. Prime Minister, what will you choose? Complicity in war crimes, or the courage to act?”

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 54,084 Palestinians and injured 123,308 since October 7, 2023, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Israel resumed military operations in the territory on March 18 ending a two-month ceasefire. Since then, 3,924 people have been killed. The Israeli military began its offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel and killed 1,200 people.

The complete list of signatories:

  • Abigail Lawrie
  • Abnit Nijjar
  • Afua Hirsch
  • Aimee Croysdill
  • Aisling Bea
  • Aiysha Hart
  • Alewya
  • Alex Eagle
  • Alex Hannaby
  • Alex Lockwood
  • Alex Lawther
  • Alex Boateng
  • Alexei Sayle
  • Alexi Lubomirski
  • Alexis Bamforth
  • Alice Aedy
  • Alison Oliver
  • Amalia Vitale
  • Amanda Rajkumar
  • Amber Massie-Blomfield
  • Amelia Dimoldenberg
  • Amy Jackson
  • Anais Aida
  • Andi Oliver
  • Andrea Kapos
  • Andrea Riseborough
  • Andrew Wilkinson
  • Andy Sewell
  • Anna Chancellor
  • Anna Hussain
  • Annabelle Wallis
  • Annie Lennox
  • Annie Mac
  • Anoushka Shankar
  • April De Angelis
  • Asif Kapadia
  • Basma Khalifa
  • Becky Bowe
  • Becky Hill
  • Bella Freud
  • Ben Howard
  • Benedict Cumberbatch
  • Bill Paterson
  • Brian Cox
  • Brian Eno
  • Caitriona Balfe
  • Callum Grieve
  • Camilla Brady
  • Camilla Whitehill
  • Camille Charriere
  • Candice Brathwaite
  • Carmen Busquets
  • Cassandra Stavrou
  • Cathy Runciman
  • Cecily Eno
  • Celina Teague
  • Charlene Ryan
  • Charlie Waterhouse
  • Charlie Murphy
  • Charlie Brooker
  • Chloe Abrahams
  • Chris O’Dowd
  • Clare Patey
  • Clover Hogan
  • Cosima Davies
  • Courttia Newland
  • Dame Harriet Walter
  • Dame Tracey Emin DBE RA
  • Dan Smith
  • Daniel Lismore
  • Danny Boyle
  • David Lan
  • Dawn O’Porter
  • Dawn Butler
  • Daze Aghaji
  • Deanna Rodger
  • Deborah Curtis
  • Deborah Frances-White
  • Deirdre Moran
  • Denise Gough
  • Dermot O’Leary
  • Díana Bermudez
  • Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta
  • Dr Inua Ellams MBE, FRSA, FRSL
  • Dr James Smith
  • Dua Lipa
  • Dylan Brady
  • Ed Burnside
  • Ed Gillespie
  • Edward Davis
  • Eleanor Tomlinson
  • Elizabeth Slade
  • Ellis Howard
  • Emma Findlay
  • Emma Naomi
  • Eve De Haan
  • Eve Ensler
  • Everyday Racism
  • Farah Nabulsi
  • Farrah O'connor
  • Federico Gaggio
  • Felix White
  • Fisayo Akinade
  • Frederica Lovell-Pank
  • Gary Lineker
  • Geoff Lumb
  • George Gwynne
  • Giada Lubomirski
  • Gideon Berger
  • Giles Duley
  • Giles Taylor
  • Gizzi Erskine
  • Grace Campbell
  • HAAi
  • Hannah Menzies
  • Hannah Lowe
  • Harriet Walter
  • Harry Williams
  • Hildegard Bechtler
  • Himesh Patel
  • Ian Drysdale
  • Ian Kershaw
  • Ian Rickson
  • Ieuan Williams
  • Imad Al Arnab
  • Imran Yusuf
  • Indira Varma
  • Isabella Nefar
  • Jack Casey
  • Jack Rooke
  • Jake Dunn
  • James Smith
  • James McVey
  • Jamie Byng
  • Jan Woolf
  • Jemima Khan
  • Jen Brister
  • Jess Mills
  • Jessica Fostekew
  • Jessie Ware
  • Jo Rendle
  • Joel Gray
  • Joel Murphy
  • John Fass
  • John Keane
  • John Lithgow
  • Johnny Bleasdale
  • Jolyon Maugham KC
  • Jolyon Rubinstein
  • Jon Hopkins
  • Jonathan Pryce
  • Jordan Stephens
  • Joy Crookes
  • Julie Hesmondhalgh
  • Juliet Stevenson
  • Juno Dawson
  • Katharine Hamnett
  • Kathy Lette
  • Katie Davies
  • Katie Leung
  • Kelly Eastwood
  • Kerry McDermott
  • Khalid Abdalla
  • Konnie Huq
  • Laline Paull
  • Lara Savikl
  • Laura Hawkins
  • Laura Whitmore
  • Laura Bailey
  • Lauren Lyle
  • Lauren Mayberry
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  • Lee Hall
  • Lena De casparis
  • Lena Headey
  • Lennie Ware
  • Leyla Hussein
  • Liam Smith
  • Lilly Heine
  • Lily Cole
  • Linda Maitland
  • Lise Mayer
  • Livia Giuggioli Firth
  • Lolly Adefope
  • Lorna Tucker-McGarvey
  • Lottie Coll
  • Louisa Young
  • Love Ssega
  • Lydia West
  • Mabel
  • Mackenzie Davis
  • Maddy Neghabian
  • Mae Martin
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  • Misan Harriman
  • Mohsan Alvi
  • Morgan Spector
  • Moss Barclay
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  • Myriam Francois
  • Nabhaan Rizwan
  • Nadia Sawalha
  • Najjib Rahman
  • Nancy Strang
  • Nansi Nsue
  • Natalie Pinkham
  • Nathalie Emmanuel
  • Nathaniel Curtis
  • Neil Griffiths
  • Neneh Cherry
  • Nicholas Donovan
  • Nicola Coughlan
  • Nicola Thorp
  • Nicole Cox
  • Nihal Arthanayake
  • Nikesh Shukla
  • Nikesh Patel
  • Nikita Gill
  • Nilly (Pauline) Brook
  • Nish Kumar
  • Noé Sébert
  • Noomi Rapace
  • Olivia Marcus
  • Olivia West
  • Oluwakemi Davies
  • Omar Abdel-Mannan
  • Onjali Q Rauf
  • Ophelie Bedier
  • Paapa Essiedu
  • Paloma Faith
  • Patrick Walker
  • Paul Ewen
  • Paul Laverty
  • Paul Reynolds
  • Payzee Mahmod
  • Pete Wyer
  • Peter Straughan
  • Phoebe Collings-James
  • Poppy Ajudha
  • Primal Scream
  • Professor Jacqueline Rose
  • Rachel Chinouriri
  • Raghib Ali
  • Rebecca Hall
  • Rehana Kapadia
  • Richard Bacon
  • Riz Ahmed
  • Robert Diament
  • Robert Gilbert
  • Roger Hartley
  • Rosa Hesmondhalgh
  • Rose Williams
  • Rosie O’Donnell
  • Ruby Stokes
  • Ruth Negga
  • Sabrina Mahfouz
  • Sadie Frost
  • Salena Godden
  • Sam Fender
  • Sam Roddick
  • Samuel West
  • Savannah Miller
  • Scott ODonnell
  • Seamus McGarvey
  • Shalini Peiris
  • Shappi Khorsandi
  • Sharmadean Reid
  • Sharon Watson
  • Shelagh Wright
  • Sheridan Kates
  • Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
  • Siobhan McSweeney
  • Sophia Di Martino
  • Sophie Hunter
  • Sophie Willan
  • Stephen Kapos
  • Steve Coogan
  • Sunetra Sarker
  • Susan Wokoma
  • Sydney Lima
  • Sylvia Banafsheh Brook
  • Taban Shoresh OBE
  • Tadhg Hickey
  • Tallulah Greive
  • Tanya Haj-Hassan
  • Tilda Swinton
  • Tim McInnerny
  • Tobias Menzies
  • Toby Jones
  • Tom Rutherford
  • Tony ‘Gad’ Robinson
  • Tracey Seaward
  • Twana Omer
  • Tyler Richardson
  • Tyson McVey
  • Vic Hope
  • Victoria Harwood
  • Victoria Moseley
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  • Waleed Elgadi
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