Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie on Friday visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing into Gaza, speaking with Red Crescent personnel and truck drivers transporting humanitarian aid, AFP reported.
According to the news agency, Jolie arrived with an American delegation and was greeted by former and current officials. She said she was “honored" to meet the aid volunteers at the site. A Red Crescent volunteer told the Oscar-winning actor that “there are thousands of aid trucks just waiting" at the crossing.
Local media reported that Jolie, a former special envoy for the UN refugee agency, came to assess the condition of injured Gazans transferred to Egypt and to examine the flow of aid into the war‑torn enclave. Neither Jolie nor Egyptian authorities have issued an official statement on the visit.
The Rafah crossing was expected to reopen under the ceasefire in effect in Gaza since October, but it has remained closed due to Hamas violations and delays in returning the bodies of hostages.
Jolie, one of Hollywood’s most recognizable figures, has in the past been critical of Israel. In November of 2023, several weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, Jolie took to Instagram and accused Israel of deliberately “bombing a trapped population who have nowhere to flee. Gaza has been an open-air prison for nearly two decades and is fast becoming a mass grave. 40% of those killed are innocent children. Whole families are being murdered."
She also accused Israel of collectively punishing millions of Palestinian Arab civilians while depriving them of food, medicine and humanitarian aid against international law.
Jolie’s criticism of Israel was met with a sharp response from her father, actor Jon Voight, who said his daughter “has no understanding of God's honor, God's truths" and added, “The Israeli army must protect thy soil, thy people. This is war. It's not going to be what the left thinks. It can't be ‘civil’ now. Israel was attacked by inhuman terror on innocent babies, mothers, fathers, [and] grandparents."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)