LONDON: Britain’s Prince William will carry out a number of engagements to “recognise the human suffering” caused by the conflict in Gaza and the Middle East and to draw attention to the global rise in antisemitism, his office said on Tuesday.
William, 41, the heir to the throne, will meet those involved in providing humanitarian support in the region and hear first-hand accounts of the situation on the ground, Kensington Palace said.
The Prince of Wales, who in 2018 became the first senior British royal to make an official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, will also attend a synagogue to hear from young people who are involved in tackling hatred and antisemitism.
With his father King Charles currently absent from official public duties as he undergoes treatment for cancer, William has been expected to take on some more high-profile engagements. It comes as his wife Kate also recovers from abdominal surgery.
“The prince and princess were profoundly concerned by events that unfolded in late 2023 and continue to hold all the victims, their family and friends in their hearts and minds,” William’s office said in a statement.
“Their royal highnesses continue to share in the hope of a better future for all those affected.”
The war started last October when Hamas fighters burst into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, in what Charles had called “barbaric acts of terrorism”.
Since then the Israeli military response has resulted in the deaths of more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities.
