Gaza benefit event at Wembley Arena announced by Together For Palestine and Brian Eno

A benefit concert for Gaza has been announced by Together For Palestine and Brian Eno. The event will be held at London's Wembley Arena on Wednesday 17th September.

Eno announced that he will act as an executive Producer on the event, along with Khaled Ziada, Khalid Abdalla and Tracey Seaward.

“My sincere belief is that this evening can become a moment of courage where artists come together to speak the truth in their hearts — which is what we trust artists to do," Eno shared on Instagram. “Whether on stage or by video from around the world, this is a chance for us to stand together and say: this can't continue.

"Together we can raise millions in urgently needed aid for families in Gaza. Every penny donated will go to Palestinian partners through Choose Love, a UK charity supporting local humanitarians in conflict zones. But this is about more than just money. It's about sending a message of love and solidarity to the people of Palestine, that they haven't been forgotten. We see them, we hear them, and though we may be far away, we're deeply connected—as we are to all humanity."

Photographers, journalists, aid workers, teachers, and poets have risked — and, in many cases, lost — their lives in a bid to document, support, and represent those living through one of the worst humanitarian crises in living memory. Organisations including a United Nations Special Committee, Amnesty International, and Médecins Sans Frontières have declared Israel's actions in the wake of Hamas' attack on 7th October 2023 as genocide. At least 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed over almost two years of extensive bombing and forced displacement. This summer, emergency food and medical supplies have teetered on the brink of complete exhaustion, leading to widespread starvation and disease in the besieged enclave. 

The UN Special Committee wrote: “Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel,” the Committee said. “These statements along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalise life-saving supplies for political and military gains.

“Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population."

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International has said: "Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them.

"Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now."