Join 100 FAMOUS MOTHERS - DAMES, CBEs, & NATIONAL TREASURES - & sign this appeal to MUMSNET; urging them to demand GOVERNMENT ACTION ON GAZA’S URGENT MATERNITY CRISIS 

Please read full letter below and the signees of original letter that include Dame Kristen Scott Thomas, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Imelda Staunton, Dame Joanna Lumley, Dame Vanessa Redgrave, Dame Meera Syal, Annie Lennox, Sienna Miller, Paloma Faith, Indira Varma, Sharon Horgan, Suranne Jones, Laura Carmichael, Emily Watson, Jessie Buckley, Lauren Child, Juliet Stevenson, Natasha Walter, Marianne Elliot and Esther & Bella Freud

Dear Justine,

While sharing the magic of Christmas with our children, it was heartbreaking to see images of little boys and girls just like ours in flooded tents and without food or warmth or medical support in Gaza, after everything they’ve already been through. Mumsnet has a powerful platform to advocate for the safety and protection of women and children and we appeal to you, as mothers, to use it now.

Any hopes raised by the ceasefire announcement have been dashed. As Amnesty International and the UN have warned, the killing continues and the catastrophe has only slowed its pace. Many people would be shocked to hear that the world’s most respected charities, including Save the Children and Oxfam, are still being blocked by Israel from bringing life-saving supplies into Gaza. These are not abstract items- it’s food, warm clothing, blankets, baby formula, medicines, sanitary pads, hygiene supplies — all sitting just miles away at shut borders. 

In your 2024 Mumsnet Manifesto, the first 4 policy asks focus on maternity care, birth trauma, breastfeeding support and baby formula so we know Britain’s mothers would be devastated by Unicef’s warning that “thousands of mothers who’ve been left starving are now giving birth to underweight or premature babies who die in intensive care units or struggle to survive acute malnutrition”. 

Women in Gaza are giving birth in unimaginable conditions, with many alone, at high risk. Meanwhile, four brand-new state-of-the-art Mobile Maternity Clinics are waiting across the border in Egypt, all refused entry. Incomprehensibly when the infant mortality rate has risen 75% over the past 2 years, they too are being blocked. These clinics were created to bring safe, hygienic, dignified care and would save the lives of thousands of mothers and babies. They were funded by the efforts of ordinary women across the UK and Ireland at coffee mornings and local groups. They need access. The safety of a mother and her baby is at the very heart of the Christmas story, we mustn’t forget that.

In Gaza, we are witnessing the incredible capacity of mothers and fathers to love and nurture and take care of their children against all odds, but love alone cannot replace food, shelter, materials to let them live. As the Israeli government (who are blocking the aid) is supported by the British government, we believe UK citizens have a responsibility to insist on the delivery of this vital aid. 

Last year, one of Mumsnet’s unflinching demands was ‘Make women and girls safe’ — we urge you to include the women and girls of Gaza in this demand. Call on the UK government to insist Israel immediately allows:

• The entry of four £75,000 mobile maternity clinics and other medical equipment currently waiting in Egypt with Medics Worldwide and Palestine Aid
• Full access for independent NGOs such as Save the Children, Oxfam, MAP to deliver full humanitarian aid - currently over 6,500 trucks blocked according to Israeli human rights group Btselem.
• The delivery of sanitary pads and other essential menstrual and hygiene supplies for women and girls

Mumsnet is a powerhouse, and your advocacy for the protection of women and children carries real political weight. With every Prime Minister since David Cameron fielding your questions, it’s clear that when you speak, policymakers listen. No mother would turn away from the suffering of a child -and the children of Gaza are still suffering needlessly. Together as mothers, we can help. 

While many parents may not feel confident enough to speak out themselves, your leadership now would galvanise them to demand tangible actions to get life saving supplies into Gaza and create safe conditions for women to give birth, giving those mothers and babies a chance at life. We cannot leave them alone in the New Year.

Thank you,

Signed:  Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joanna Lumley, Dame Vanessa Redgrave,  Dame Imelda Staunton, Dame Meera Syal, Annie Lennox (singer-songwriter, activist), Paloma Faith (singer), Sienna Miller (actress), Jessie Buckley (actress), Rebecca Ferguson MBE (singer songwriter), Sharon Horgan (showrunner), Lauren Child CBE (children’s author), Indira Varma (actress), Bella Freud (designer), Esther Freud (author), Suranne Jones (actress and producer), Emily Watson (actress), Aisling Bea (comedian), Noma Dumezweni (actress), Zawe Ashton (Save the Children ambassador and actress), Sadie Frost (designer), Juliet Stevenson CBE (actress), Jasleen Kaur (Turner Prize winner), Arti Prashar OBE (theatre director),  Emma Dabiri FRSL (writer, broadcaster), Jacqueline Rose (author, teacher), Bridget Christie (comedian), Charlotte Church (singer), Olivia Williams (actress), Natasha Walter (feminist writer), Michelle Terry (actress), Monisha Rajesh (author), Africa Daley- Clarke (author and equity advocate), Jen Brister (comedian), Niamh Cusack (actress), Marie Mitchell (Michellin-starred chef), Alice Birch (playwright), Paule Constable OBE (lighting designer), Andrea Kapos (creative and director), Illiyin Morrison (Birth Trauma Specialist) , Milli Proust (florist), Zena Agha (academic, poet), Janine Harouni (comedian), Ahdaf Soueif (author), Sylvia Beach Whitman FRSL (bookseller), Marianne Elliott OBE (director, producer), Laura Carmichael (actress), Nadia Fall OBE (director), Jackie Morris (illustrator), Joely Richardson (actress), Laura Wade (playwright), Maureen Freely (novelist), Amelia Bullmore (actress, writer), Rosalind Nashashibi (artist), Amanda Abbington (actress), Laura Smyth (comedian), Dr Sarah Moulden (curator), Mobeen Akhtar (painter), Tanya Moodie (actress), Sophie Stone (deaf rights activist, actress), Tamsin Abbott (folk artist), Alison Pill (actress), Rae Smith (theatre designer), Elizabeth Kelly (Nights by Wilder kids clothing), Vean Ima (poet), Selma Dabbagh (author), Petra Palumbo (homeware designer), Gillian Lawlee (interior design), Anna Ledwich (director),  Ursula Rani Sarma (screenwriter), Caroline Duckett (Apolina clothing), Gillian Slovo (playwright), Anouska Beckwith (artist), Sophie Thompson (actress), Diane Hill (artist), Lubna Antoinette Fakhri Castillo (birthworker), Daisy Haggard (actress), Fenella Woolgar (actress), Kerry Godliman (comedian), Aya Haidar (artist), Eleanor Matsuura (actress), Henna Bakhshi (artist), Shappi Khorsandi (comedian and author), Róisín O’ Loughlin (Radical Love Art), Anna Hope (designer), Georgia Lowe (Gaza Formula Fund), Amy Hanson (Small Steps Project CEO), Hannah Khalil FRSL (playwright), Cressida Brown (theatre director), Andi Oliver (chef), Joanna Carolan (comedian), Marnie Dickens (screenwriter), Taghrid Choucair-Vizoso (Head of Programmes, artist), Elizabeth Lynch MBE (arts advisor), Charlotte Patmore (photographer), Jade Anouka (actress), Lucy Strawson (Tuck It In quilt designer), Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (playwright), Zainab Hasan (actress), Sarah Kendall (comedian), Felicity Ward (comedian), Thusitha Jayasundera (actress), Nora Lester Murad (writer, educator, activist), Rosie Lou (actress), 

In conjunction with Gaza Formula Fund, Small Steps Project & All Our Relations, all grassroots campaigns run by British mums

References to Articles and Reports:

UNICEF Born vulnerable: the toll of maternal malnutrition and stress in Gaza https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/born-vulnerable-toll-maternal-malnutrition-and-stress-gaza

UN Gaza’s babies ‘scarred by war before first breath’ by malnutrition https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166539 

Reuters — “Floods swamp homeless Palestinians’ tents in Gaza as winter looms”
 Independent reporting on winter flooding destroying tents and worsening humanitarian conditions.
 https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/floods-swamp-homeless-palestinians-tents-gaza-winter-looms-2025-11-25

ReliefWeb / International Rescue Committee — “Ceasefire in Gaza has not brought promised levels of aid; winter conditions threaten even more lives”
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/ceasefire-gaza-has-not-brought-promised-levels-aid-winter-conditions-threaten-even-more-lives-irc

 Oxfam — “Mounting alarm as Israeli authorities reject NGO applications to transport life-saving aid into Gaza”
 Documents blocks on shipments of hygiene kits, shelter materials, blankets, clothing, medical supplies, etc.
 https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/mounting-alarm-israeli-authorities-reject-ngo-applications-transport-life-saving-aid

Haaretz “Gaza Newborn Mortality Rates Up 75 Percent Compared With Prewar Levels” Dec 11 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-12-11/ty-article/.premium/gaza-newborn-mortality-rates-up-75-percent-compared-with-prewar-levels-report-says/0000019b-0a18-dda6-a7fb-3e59f64e0000

Norwegian Refugee Council — “Gaza shelter aid still blocked as winter nears”
 Confirms shelter materials, blankets, bedding, etc. remain blocked; hundreds of thousands at risk.
 https://www.nrc.no/news/2025/october/three-weeks-into-ceasefire-gaza-shelter-aid-still-blocked-as-winter-nears

Btselem report Friday 12 Dec “Israel is blocking over  6,500 trucks with essential winter aid  from entering Gaza” https://www.instagram.com/btselem/ 

​​https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/22/two-pregnancies-gaza-war

UK Government — “Humanitarian situation in Gaza, Palestine (November 2024)”
 Reports almost the entire population is in need of humanitarian assistance; at least 95% face acute food insecurity.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/palestine-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-humanitarian-situation-in-gaza-palestine-november-2024-accessible

Mobile Maternity Clinics :

https://palestineaid.org/mobile-maternity-clinic/