Weeks After ‘Free Palestine’ Comment, Lewis Hamilton Visits Groups Sending Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton visited the Rafah border crossing in Egypt on Tuesday as he met organizations sending humanitarian aid to Gaza. This comes less than three weeks after Hamilton had called for a ‘Free Palestine’ during a press conference ahead of the US Grand Prix in October.

The Rafah border crossing is the only land crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and is also the hub of numerous humanitarian aid organizations, including the Egyptian Red Crescent. Hamilton visited the logistics warehouses operated by this organization and also met with some of the aid workers.

Hamilton also met with North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer during his visit, who has stated that the Ferrari F1 driver was in Rafah to learn about and understand Egypt’s efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The 41-year-old has long been vocal about his opinion on Palestine, previously calling for a ceasefire in the region. Hamilton has also advocated for sending more aid to the relief effort in Gaza, asking his fans to donate to organizations including the Palestine Red Crescent.

Most recently, at the US Grand Prix in October, Hamilton had called for a ‘Free Palestine’ while discussing numerous conflicts and geopolitical issues currently ongoing in the world.

Lewis Hamilton Called For ‘Free Palestine’ Among Other Causes

Speaking ahead of the US Grand Prix in October, Hamilton made his stance clear on multiple conflicts that are currently ongoing in the world. The Briton said that just because F1 will be racing in Rwanda in Africa in the near future does not mean that people should forget about the issues going on in Africa and also Palestine.

“Of course, going there doesn’t mean that you neglect the things that are happening there. So hopefully many people start to educate themselves a little bit more about what is happening there and what has happened there for hundreds of years. I hope that does spark the conversation,” Hamilton said when talking about an F1 race in Africa.

“And then I guess I’ll finish it off with this: I think we need to make sure we’re pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there’s a lot of peace that I’m hoping we get to at some stage,” he added.

Hamilton had also added that the topic of racing in Rwanda is one that people must approach with ‘humility’ as many do not know the nuances of what is currently unfolding in the country and the larger African continent. He said that a lot of the issues facing Africa even today are ‘results of colonialism and the West intervening’.

Lewis Hamilton Had Called For More Humanitarian Aid to be Allowed in Gaza

Following a visit to Jordan in January, Hamilton took to Instagram to call for more aid to be allowed to go into Gaza. He explained that he believes sending help to Gaza is possible if only more was allowed to be done by the humanitarian organizations in the region.

“When you see what’s happening on the ground, it can be so easy to feel hopeless and like there’s nothing we can do to help. I thought that feeling of hopelessness would’ve been what I took away from my visit, but it wasn’t,” Hamilton wrote.

“Help is possible, ending this suffering is possible, but the trickle of aid currently reaching Gaza is nowhere near enough. Humanitarian organizations must be allowed to reach the places where help is needed,” he added.

Hamilton also added that he was left motivated after witnessing the ‘spirit of resilience and humanity’ of the Palestinians, the humanitarian workers, as well as the doctors who are working to help the people in Gaza.

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