Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez attend fundraiser for Gaza

World-renowned artists Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez attended a Gaza fundraising event hosted at Ramy Youssef’s comedy club in Brooklyn.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the performance, held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was a stop on Youssef’s ‘More Feelings’ tour.

On his Instagram page, the Egyptian-American Emmy-nominated actor revealed that all the proceeds generated from the comedy show would be fully contributed to the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) to aid in relief efforts for Gaza.

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Anera was established in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War to meet the humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) investing in the renovation of schools and training for early years’ teachers in Palestine and Lebanon. Over the past five decades it has spent tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian, agricultural, water, sanitation, education and health programmes.

The NGO is currently engaged in delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza, where nearly 18,000 individuals have lost their lives during a harsh Israeli offensive that has endured for two months.

Actresses Anya Taylor-Joy, renowned for her role in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, and Zoe Kravitz, known for her role in Batman, were also reported to have attended the charity event.

Online images capturing the departure of Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, accompanied by model Cara Delevingne, fueled speculation among fans about their roles in supporting relief efforts.

It comes after Gomez, the founder of the beauty brand Rare Beauty, faced significant criticism for choosing not to address the ongoing war against Gaza.

Despite having over 429 million Instagram followers, the star announced a social media hiatus, claiming to want to make a positive impact on the world, but that a post wouldn’t achieve that. She had previously posted in defence of Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion.

Pro-Palestinian advocates have consistently urged celebrities and social media influencers to leverage their platforms to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on 1 December after the end of a week-long humanitarian pause. At least 17,487 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46,480 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since 7 October.

READ: Israel airdrops supplies to its forces in southern Gaza amid fighting