By Dildar Baykan Atalay
Videos of world-renowned actors reading aloud the accusations against Israel regarding the alleged "genocide" in Gaza, during the initial hearing of the case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), have garnered thousands of views on social media platforms.
Actors of the TV series "Crown," Khalid Abdalla and Tobias Menzies, and the actors of the TV series "Game of Thrones," Charles Dance, Carice van Houten and Lena Headey were among the 29 actors featured in videos published on YouTube channel "The Palestine Festival of Literature."
The videos were also watched hundreds of thousands of times on X.
In addition, Israeli-born actor Adam Bakri and Jewish actor Wallace Shawn, as well as actress Cynthia Nixon, who participated in the hunger strike demanding a cease-fire in Gaza in front of the White House, were among those who appeared in front of the camera and read out the accusations.
Israel is currently facing a "genocide" case brought to the UN court by South Africa due to its attacks in Gaza - which are repeatedly described as a breach to international laws by the UN. Tel Aviv, however, denies accusations of genocide by claiming that it is only trying to protect its own people.
Israel has launched a relentless military assault on Gaza after a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,200 people.
During Israel’s military campaign, at least 24,448 Palestinians have been killed and 61,504 others injured, according to Palestinian authorities. The majority of the victims were children and women.
According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.