Mo Salah calls for immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza, urges end to 'further slaughter'

Egyptian football superstar Mo Salah called Wednesday for humanitarian aid to be allowed to the devastated Gaza Strip immediately, as he urged world leaders to prevent a "further slaughter".

Salah, also a much-loved member of the Liverpool team, said there had been "too much violence" and "too much heartbreak and brutality" in a video posted to social media, which has been viewed millions of times.

Hamas launched a surprise attack inside Israel on 7 October, killing an estimated 1,400 people. Israel has since waged an indiscriminate and relentless bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip, killing more than 3,700 people, most of them women and children.

"The escalations in the recent weeks [are] unbearable to witness. All lives are sacred and must be protected. The massacres need to stop. Families are being torn apart," said Salah, who recently donated to help those impacted by the strikes on the Palestinian enclave.

"What's clear now is that humanitarian aid to Gaza must be allowed immediately.

"The people there are in terrible conditions. The scenes at the hospital last night [Tuesday] were horrifying."

pic.twitter.com/cpyHFIhuQj

— Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah) October 18, 2023

An Israeli airstrike at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday killed 471 people.

"The people of Gaza need food, water and medical supplies urgently," Salah added.

"I'm calling [on] the world leaders to come together to prevent a further slaughter of innocent souls. Humanity must prevail."

Soon after Salah posted his video, news broke that US President Joe Biden had announced that his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed to let a limited number of aid trucks enter Gaza through the shuttered Rafah crossing from Friday.

It would be the first international relief to enter Gaza since 7 October, when Hamas launched its surprise attack inside Israel.

Since then, Israel has launched wave after wave of airstrikes on Gaza, imposing a total siege on the enclave and cutting off electricity and water and deploying tens of thousands of troops to the border in preparation for an expected ground assault.

Agencies contributed to this report.