Billie Piper urges people to demand ‘action’ for Palestinian children
By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter
Doctor Who star Billie Piper has asked people to do what they can to stand up “for humanity” and demand “urgent action” for Palestinians.
Piper, 42, is best known for appearing in the BBC sci-fi series as Rose Tyler, the companion to the ninth and 10th Doctor and most recently appeared in the season finale which saw the 15th Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, regenerate into Piper.
On Friday the actor shared a statement on her Instagram account where she recalled the time she was able to spend with her children over the past year, highlighting that many Palestinian children will be unable to do the same.
A post shared by Billie Piper (@billiepiper)
The statement read: “This year, these images of Palestinian children plague my mind as I consider all of the things I’m allowed to do with my kids, as these children suffer the insurmountable pain of losing the ones they love, the parents who were there with them once before, telling them how great they were, how everything would be fine and that ‘this is your year’.”
The statement was followed by a video from Al Jazeera which saw Palestinian children, who lost their parents, in floods of tears as they took part in a makeshift school graduation.
In the caption to the post, Piper added: “It’s hard to know what to do, but as you think of your kids and loved ones, spare a thought for these children who are being starved and traumatised.
“We must continue to demand urgent action.
“Right now, Palestinian children in Gaza are barely surviving through unimaginable days and long nights of bombardment, starvation and fear.
“There is no escape from bombs falling, bullets are shot at aid collection points and too many families have lost loved ones.”
It comes as Israel declares Gaza City a combat zone.
Last week the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed for the first time there is a famine in Gaza, citing the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) which found that over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing “catastrophic conditions characterised by starvation, destitution and death” and that over 1 million more are facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
According to the WFP, 640,000 people are experiencing a famine with 132,000 children at risk of death through acute malnutrition.
The famine has been described by the IPC as “man-made” with the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, describing it as a “systemic obstruction by Israel”.
The Israeli military agency responsible for the transferring of aid into the territory, known as COGAT, denied the claims and described the report as “egregiously flawed”.