Shawn Mendes Speaks Out on Gaza, Urges Artists to Join Him: ‘There Is a Genocide Happening Before Our Eyes’

Shawn Mendes has made his first public statement on Gaza, calling for the killing of Palestinians to stop and urging fellow artists to speak up. He said children and families need help, acknowledged that speaking out can feel frightening, and argued that more artists using their platforms could help bring change.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, 12 November, Mendes encouraged people to support the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, Watermelon Pictures and the Woven Futures Fund. The article cites more than 74,000 deaths in the war since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, which killed about 1,200 Israelis, and reports 1,600 further Palestinian deaths since an October 2025 ceasefire. It says the UN has classified Israel’s actions as genocide, a characterisation Israel and the United States deny.