Former footballer David Beckham has posted in support of UNICEF as he shared a post calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine after months of silence
David Beckham has shared a post calling for a ceasefire(Image: AP)
David Beckham has finally addressed the conflict between Israel and Palestine after months of remaining silent. The football icon, 50, is an ambassador for UNICEF, who last year called for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and launched an appeal for the children of Gaza.
He failed to share a post from UNICEF UK to his millions of followers about their flagship appeal in 2024. David was among the almost half of the organisation’s high profile supporters who hadn’t shared a post.
In March this year, the England sports star re-shared a post from UNICEF for the first time. Now, David has spoke out again after months of silence by sharing another graphic from the organisation.
David shared a post from UNICEF after months of silence(Image: davidbeckham/instagram)
In their post that David shared and liked, UNICEF said: “UNICEF welcomes the announcement by Israel to implement most urgently needed humanitarian pauses to increase access to deliver aid into and across Gaza.
“Since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, children have been trapped in a nightmare and deprived of the basics to survive. They are hungry, traumatized and have no safe place to go. The entire population of over 2 million people in Gaza is severely food insecure. One out of every three people has not eaten for days and 80 per cent of all reported deaths by starvation are children.
“This is an opportunity to begin to reverse this catastrophe and save lives.” It continued: “UNICEF has never stopped delivering. But we can do a lot more if additional designated humanitarian corridors are created to facilitate the movement of our convoys – as well as commercial trucks, which are essential. In July alone, UNICEF has managed to deliver 147 trucks inside Gaza with nutrition supplies, including baby food, milk and high-energy biscuits.
“We are ready to increase this number and ensure more life-saving aid enters Gaza at the required scale and bring hope to an exhausted population.
“UNICEF continues to call for a ceasefire, the unfettered access of humanitarian aid across Gaza, the protection of children, and the release of all hostages so they can return home to their loved ones.”
He previously shared a UNICEF message in March(Image: davidbeckham/instagram)
On his own post, David tagged UNICEF but added no further comment to his 88.3million followers. His previous silence prompted backlash over how he responded different to Gaza and Ukraine.
He handed over control of his Instagram account to a Ukrainian doctor working in the city of Kharkiv in March 2022, to highlight how Russia’s invasion was impacting the country’s pregnant women and children.
The same month, the football legend and his wife Victoria Beckham donated £1 million to a UNICEF appeal to support Ukrainian children affected by the devastating conflict.
David, who was a Qatar 2022 World Cup ambassador, has been accused of being less explicit regarding where he stands when it comes to the plight of Palestinian people.
Other celebrities who remained silent about UNICEF’s Protect Children in the Gaza crisis appeal included Robbie Williams, Tom Hiddleston, Cat Deeley, Charley Boorman, Claudia Schiffer, David Harewood, Lord David Puttnam, Emma Bunton, James Nesbitt, Jessie Ware and Martin Bell.
Olivia Coleman, Michael Sheen, Ewan McGregor, Gemma Chan, Jemima Khan, Levison Wood, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sir Chris Hoy, Muzoon Almellehan, Sir Andy Murray, Suzy Eddie Izzard and Ramla Ali all called for a ceasefire.
