Charlotte Church chokes back tears as she vows to sing ‘for the liberation of Palestine’ on Monday and Friday mornings in Instagram video

• Charlotte Church pleaded with followers to speak up in support of Palestine 

Singer Charlotte Church choked back tears on Instagram as she implored her followers to take up the plight of innocent Palestinians caught up in Hamas’ and Israel’s deadly conflict.

The popstar, 37, said she wanted to show her support and solidarity with the Palestinian people, as she urged listeners ‘don’t look away’.

Church referred to the ‘genocide’ which has so far seen 11,200 Palestinians killed, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

‘Go with what your heart is saying, go with what your soul knows is the right thing to do,’ she said.

The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by a wide-ranging Hamas attack into southern Israel on October 7 in which the terrorists brutally killed over 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and captured 240 men, women and children.

Popstar Charlotte Church, 37, said she wanted to show her support and solidarity with the Palestinian people, as she urged listeners ‘don’t look away’

Church, who started out as a classical singer at just ten, has shifted her focus to politics in recent years, supporting the Labour party and causes such as remaining in the EU and Welsh independence

In her post, Church said: ‘Please watch the videos that are coming out of Gaza and West Bank and Palestine right now that are showing the genocide that is happening

Newborns are placed in bed after being taken off incubators in Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital after power outage, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza November 12, 2023

Her post attracted some critics, among them Jewish actress Tracy-Ann Obermann, who wrote: ‘Did you speak out about the rapes and burning alive of the Jewish young girls and women on Oct 7th Charlotte?’

Israel responded with a weeks-long air campaign and a ground invasion of northern Gaza, vowing to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.

‘Support and solidarity with the Palestinian people’: Charlotte Church’s message in full 

‘Hi lovely people, I wanted to do a video to show my support and my solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

‘A message I wanted to bring in force to you, which is something I’ve been telling myself, which is please don’t look away. 

‘Please watch the videos that are coming out of Gaza and West Bank and Palestine right now that are showing the genocide that is happening

‘It’s hard to watch I get it, I understand. However, it is much, much harder to experience. It is the least that we can do for what is happening to these innocent babies, these innocent children who are caught in this geopolitical insanity, so please, please, there is a genocide going on right now.

‘And there is all sorts of things that we can do about it [starts to choke back tears] we need to raise our voices. Please, for those who are already speaking up, thank you, thank you, please keep going. Keep raising your voices. Keep letting people know about it, keep making sure that Palestinian voices are raised and are focused upon as much as we possibly can. 

‘For those who are on the fence or a little worried that this is going to impact their business, their livelihood, their public standing, this is so much bigger. This is so much bigger than us. 

‘Please, please go with what your heart is saying, go with what your soul knows is the right thing to do and please, please just raise the voices of these Palestinian people and this genocide that is happening in front of all of our eyes

‘Please, in my link, in my bio, there is lots of Palestinian accounts and Palestinian people to follow, to get the most up to date information about what’s happening on the ground, please follow those Palestinian people that are in the link in my bio

‘I’d also like to offer every Monday and Friday at 6.30am, starting on 20th November, I would like to offer a singing session, singing for the liberation of Palestine [chokes back tears] and the liberation of the Palestinian people. 

‘So just follow my stories and there will be more information about those singing sessions. They will be maybe 45 minutes long just at the start of the week and at the end of the working week, just for us to come together and to do whatever it is we can – organise, sing, just whatever we can do to try and do our part to raise awareness about these horrific things that are happening in Palestine. Much love to you all.’

Western nations have been left divided over whether Israel has gone too far in its response, with politicians breaking ranks to demand a ceasefire.

Last Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron became the first major western leader to call for a ceasefire.

Church, who started out as a classical singer at just ten, has shifted her focus to politics in recent years, supporting the Labour party and causes such as remaining in the EU and Welsh independence.

The mother-of-three has vowed to lead singing sessions on Mondays and Fridays in support of Palestine and has even asked followers if they know any Palestinian songs. 

In her video, she said: ‘Please watch the videos that are coming out of Gaza and West Bank and Palestine right now that are showing the genocide that is happening 

‘It’s hard to watch I get it, I understand. However, it is much, much harder to experience. It is the least that we can do for what is happening to these innocent babies, these innocent children who are caught in this geopolitical insanity, so please, please, there is a genocide going on right now.

‘And there is all sorts of things that we can do about it,’ choking back tears as she added: ‘We need to raise our voices.’

‘For those who are on the fence or a little worried that this is going to impact their business, their livelihood, their public standing, this is so much bigger. This is so much bigger than us.

‘Please, please go with what your heart is saying, go with what your soul knows is the right thing to do. 

‘I would like to offer a singing session, singing for the liberation of Palestine [chokes back tears] and the liberation of the Palestinian people.

‘They will be maybe 45 minutes long just at the start of the week and at the end of the working week, just for us to come together and to do whatever it is we can – organise, sing, just whatever we can do to try and do our part to raise awareness about these horrific things that are happening in Palestine. Much love to you all.’

In response, actress Tracy-Ann Oberman commented: ‘Did you speak out about the rapes and burning alive of the Jewish young girls and women on Oct 7th Charlotte?’

The Domestic Tech wrote: ‘Such emotion and yet… ? not even a word about the atrocities carried out by Hamas. I feel as if the whole world has been brainwashed.’

Ellie Mandelstam posted: ‘Unfollowing you. Where was your support for the 200 innocent Israeli hostages and the Israeli women who were raped and babies beheaded? Use your brain and don’t just pick one side of a complex conflict of which you are no part of.’

Church is among the first UK celebrities to openly express support for Palestine in the ongoing conflict. 

Last month, Madonna’s voice broke on stage at London’s O2 Arena as she addressed the deaths of children during the Israel-Hamas war. 

The 65-year-old icon told the 20,000-capacity arena: ‘Nobody wants to see what’s happening. I turn on social media and I want to vomit.

‘I see children being kidnapped, pulled off motorcycles; babies being decapitated, children at peace raves being shot and killed.

‘What the f*** is going on in the world? How can human beings be so cruel to one another? It’s just getting worse. It frightens me.”

Shen then quoted the American author James Baldwin, whom described as ‘a great inspiration to me all my life’.

She went on: ‘The children of the world belong to all of us, each and every one of them.

‘I don’t care where they’re from, what their headdress is, what the colour of their skin is, what their religion is – the children belong to us. And we are responsible for them.’

Safety: Madonna has been given extra security on her tour after receiving a torrent of hatred online, after she called for peace in Israel’s long-running bloody conflict with the Palestinians (pictured on stage at London’s O2 Arena last week)

Smoke rises following an airstrike in Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas on Thursday 

This handout picture released by the Israeli army on November 15, 2023, reportedly shows Israeli soldiers carrying out operations inside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

This handout picture released by the Israeli army on November 16, 2023, shows troops during a military operation in the Gaza Strip amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas

Israeli troops during a military operation in the Gaza Strip amid continuing battles between Israel on Thursday

People collect items among the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Wednesday 

Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said today, signalling a possible expansion of operations to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into U.N.-run shelters and family homes. 

READ MORE: ISRAEL WARNS PALESTINE TO EVACUATE PARTS OF SOUTHERN GAZA 

Broadening the offensive to the south – where Israel already carries out daily air raids – threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. 

Over 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.

Besides the Palestinians known to have died, a further 2,700 have been reported missing, with most believed to be buried under the rubble. The official count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

Israeli troops on Wednesday stormed into Gaza’s largest hospital, searching for traces of Hamas inside and beneath the facility, where newborns and hundreds of other patients have suffered for days without electricity and other basic necessities.

Troops were searching the underground levels of the hospital on Thursday and detained technicians responsible for running its equipment, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement.

After encircling Al Shifa for days, Israel faced pressure to prove its claim that Hamas was using the patients, staff and civilians sheltering there to provide cover for its fighters. The allegation is part of Israel’s broader accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields. 

Last night, Israel claimed it had found ‘concrete’ evidence that Gaza’s biggest hospital Al Shifa was being used as a terrorist base after hundreds of commandos raided it early yesterday.

The IDF revealed evidence of weaponry which it said proved the hospital was a terrorist base, with spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus showing a duffel bag hidden behind a hospital MRI machine containing an AK47 assault rifle, grenades, ammunition and a uniform. 

He also said a backpack contained ‘what appeared to be very important intelligence including a laptop’, and added that security cameras in one part of the hospital had been taped over. 

Behind another MRI machine more weapons were said to have been found and in an adjoining room on top of another MRI scanner was a bag containing ‘full military kit for one terrorist, including ammunition, a live grenade and AK47 and body armour’.

‘These weapons have no business being in a hospital,’ Conricus said as he toured the hospital in a clip released by the IDF. 

Weapons and equipment which Israel’s army says were found at Al Shifa hospital complex

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Conricus shows weapons and equipment which he says were found at Al Shifa hospital complex

In this image taken from a video released by the Israeli Defence Forces, on Wednesday, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, holds up a bullet proof vest with a Hamas insignia that was found along with weapons the IDF says were found in a medical closet at the MRI center at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

Israeli soldiers walk at the Al Shifa hospital complex, amid their ground operation against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas

Inside a cabinet for medical equipment was another holder containing a knife, a Hamas emblem, AK47 and ammunition, according to the spokesman.

But the IDF’s search showed no signs of tunnels or a sophisticated command centre that many believed would be discovered underneath the facility. 

Hamas and Gaza health officials deny militants operate in Shifa – a hospital that employs some 1,500 people and has more than 500 beds. The Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israel of recklessly endangering civilians.

Munir al-Boursh, a senior official with Gaza’s Health Ministry inside the hospital, said that for hours, the troops ransacked the basement and other buildings, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments, and searched the grounds for tunnels. Troops questioned and face-screened patients, staff and people sheltering in the facility, he said, adding that he did not know if any were detained.

‘Patients, women and children are terrified,’ he told the AP by phone Wednesday.

The military said its troops killed four militants outside the hospital at the start of the operation, but through days of fighting there were no reports of militants firing from inside Shifa. There were also no reports of any fighting within the hospital after Israeli troops entered.

The military said it was carrying out a ‘precise and targeted operation’ in a specific area of the hospital, and that its soldiers were accompanied by medical teams bringing in incubators and other supplies.

At one point, tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment were sheltering at Shifa, but most left in recent days as the fighting drew closer. The fate of premature babies at the hospital has drawn particular concern.

The Health Ministry said 40 patients, including three babies, have died since Shifa’s emergency generator ran out of fuel Saturday. There was no immediate word on the condition of another 36 babies, who the ministry said earlier were at risk of dying because there is no power for incubators.

Smoke rises during an Israeli military bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday 

People are seen among the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on Wednesday 

The leaflets, dropped in areas east of the southern town of Khan Younis, warned civilians to evacuate the area and saying anyone in the vicinity of militants or their positions ‘is putting his life in danger.’ Similar leaflets were dropped over northern Gaza for weeks ahead of the ground invasion.

Two local reporters who live east of Khan Younis confirmed seeing the leaflets. Others shared images of the leaflets on social media.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday the ground operation will eventually ‘include both the north and south. We will strike Hamas wherever it is.’

The military says it has largely consolidated its control of the north, including seizing and demolishing government buildings. Video released by the army Thursday showed soldiers moving between heavily damaged buildings through holes blown in their walls.

On Thursday, the military said it had blown up a residence belonging to Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader based abroad. It was unclear if anyone was inside the building.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have already crowded into the territory’s south, where a worsening fuel shortage threatens to paralyze the delivery of humanitarian services and shut down mobile phone and internet service.

Conditions in southern Gaza have been deteriorating as bombardment continues to level buildings. Residents say bread is scarce and supermarket shelves are bare. Families cook on wood fires for lack of fuel. Central electricity and running water have been out for weeks across Gaza.

Israel allowed a small amount of fuel to enter Gaza for on Wednesday, for the first time since the war began, so that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, which is providing basic services to hundreds of thousands of people, could continue bringing limited supplies of aid through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

The fuel cannot be used for hospitals or to desalinate water, and covers less than 10% of what the agency needs to sustain ‘lifesaving activities,’ said Thomas White, the agency’s Gaza director.

The Palestinian telecom company Paltel, meanwhile, said it expected services to halt later Wednesday because of the lack of fuel or electricity. Gaza has experienced three previous mass communication outages since the ground invasion.

If Israeli troops move south, it is not clear where Gaza’s population can flee, as Egypt refuses to allow a mass transfer onto its soil.

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