CAIRO (The Thursday Times) — Lewis Hamilton has said “the past three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza is appalling” and called on Israel to let aid trucks into the Strip, a day after he toured the Rafah crossing and the aid warehouses in Egypt’s North Sinai.
In a post on Instagram on Wednesday, the seven-time Formula One world champion said he had seen food trucks lined up at the border that were “regularly not allowed in or face major delays”. The first driver he spoke to had already been waiting more than 12 hours, he wrote.
“It’s an injustice for people to be denied their freedom, their safety and their dignity. No human being should be treated as though their life matters less,” Hamilton wrote.
Israel strongly denies accusations of genocide and says its military campaign in Gaza targets Hamas.
“Rejected for crazy reasons”
Hamilton described walls “stretching for miles” around the territory and said standing outside it felt like being outside “an open-air prison”. At an Egyptian Red Crescent logistics centre nearby, he said, he saw the work of aid staff but also “what gets rejected for crazy reasons”, listing sleeping bags, first aid kits, medical equipment, wheelchairs, and footballs for children.
“Israel needs to fulfil its obligations under the ceasefire and let the aid trucks in,” he wrote. “I don’t want us to get used to their suffering. I don’t want us to look away.”
The ceasefire reached in October 2025 provides for at least 600 trucks of aid and commercial goods to enter Gaza each day, but deliveries have continued to fall well short of that figure. Israel controls the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, while Egyptian authorities coordinate aid on their side.
From the warehouses to Las Vegas
On Tuesday, Hamilton was briefed in El Arish by North Sinai’s governor, Khaled Megawer, on how aid is prepared and sent into Gaza and how wounded and sick Palestinians are received for treatment in Egypt. He toured the crossing and the Red Crescent’s warehouses, greeting aid workers with “Assalamu alaikum”.
Hamilton, 41, has spoken out on Gaza repeatedly, posting about children killed in Israeli strikes and calling for a ceasefire. In 2021 he founded Mission 44, a charity that helps young people from under-represented backgrounds into education and work.
The trip came days after the Ferrari driver made his 400th Formula One start at the São Paulo Grand Prix, where he finished ninth. He is fourth in the drivers’ standings, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli already confirmed as champion. The Las Vegas Grand Prix on 21 November is followed by races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
