The new film is paired with renewed calls by Save the Children and Choose Love for the UK Government to end its complicity in the ongoing atrocities inflicted on children in Gaza and the West Bank
Save the Children and Choose Love have today unveiled a powerful new film featuring a group of leading actors, presenters, activists and influencers delivering a poignant recital of the poem ‘Don’t Mention the Children’.
Written in 2014 by the children’s author, poet and activist Michael Rosen after the Israeli government banned a radio advert naming children killed in Gazai, the poem highlights the silencing of children’s suffering in the face of devastating violence ii. With at least 20,000 children killed in Gaza since October 2023 — and the true figure likely far higher — its message remains painfully relevant todayiii.
Lending their voices to the moving reading includes the singer-songwriter and political activist Annie Lennox, Oscar-winning actor and political activist Dame Vanessa Redgrave, actor and comedian Ambika Mod, Oscar-nominated actor Guy Pearce, presenters Laura Whitmore and Nadia Sawalha, photographer and Oscar-nominated director Misan Harriman, model and actor Poppy Delevingne and the poem’s creator, Michael Rosen.
Also using their platforms to show solidarity with children from Gaza are writer and presenter Dawn O’Porter, emergency doctor Mohammed Mustafa, actors Nathalie Emmanuel, Daniel Ings, Zawe Ashton, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson, Khalid Abdalla, Denise Gough and Indira Varma, writer and actor Jolyon Rubinstein, activist Stephen Kapos, musician Beth Orton, comedian Jen Brister, photographer Laura Bailey and chef Max La Manna.
The vision for the project came from the Save the Children ambassador and Choose Love trustee, Misan Harriman. The film closes with a powerful appeal to end the horrors unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank: Don't Bomb Children, Don’t Starve Children, Don’t Kill Children. Each word is constructed from the names of children in Gaza killed by Israeli forces since the conflict began, laying bare the human cost behind the statistics.
Save the Children and Choose Love are campaigning for an end to the UK’s Government’s complicity in the horrors unfolding across the occupied Palestinian territory. They are urging the public to sign a petition demanding the immediate suspension of all arm transfers to Israel; all perpetrators to be held to account and an end to Israel’s impunity; and decisive action to be taken to bring Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory to an end.
Liz Bradshaw, Senior Conflict & Humanitarian Advocacy Adviser at Save the Children said: “While food and medicine sit waiting at the border, children in Gaza are being deliberately starved as F-35 fighter jets rain terror on civilians. In our clinics, silence has replaced children’s voices – many are now so weak they cannot even cry out in pain. This is a moral outrage, and we refuse to allow their suffering to be erased or ignored. Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper must act now to end the UK Government's complicity.”
Poet, Author and Activist Michael Rosen said: “I wrote Don’t Mention the Children eleven years ago in response to an attempt to silence the names of children killed in Gaza. It is heartbreaking that the poem is still so relevant today - in fact, the situation for children has only grown worse. Behind every number, every statistic, is a child with a name and a future that has been stolen. We cannot allow them to be erased. To deny their names is to deny their humanity, and we must resist that erasure at every turn.”
Misan Harriman, Save the Children Ambassador and Choose Love Trustee said: "For nearly two years, children in Gaza have endured a relentless stream of atrocities - their homes, schools and hospitals destroyed, the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon. And still, the world does nothing to stop it.
“Now more than ever, Gaza’s children need us to use our platforms, raise our voices and act. Our government must end its complicity in these horrors or be held accountable. Inaction is a choice - and history will judge this paralysis.”
Josie Fernandez-Marelli, CEO and Co-Founder of Choose Love said: “Children are being starved to death by Israel’s illegal blockade. Bombs continue to fall, and without enough food, water and medicine, surviving to the next day becomes harder. We cannot stay silent when this is happening to any children, in any part of the world. History will judge how we acted in these moments. The UK Government must end its complicity in these atrocities now and do all in its power to broker a meaningful and permanent ceasefire.”
Save the Children has been working in Gaza for decades, running primary healthcare centres and providing essential services to children, mothers, and families, including screening and treatment for malnutrition. The aid organisation has been unable to get any of its own aid into Gaza since 2 March but stands ready to rapidly scale up life-saving support with its partners as soon as access is granted. Save the Children’s teams deliver water, run child-friendly spaces and mother and baby areas where pregnant and breastfeeding women can receive support on nutrition and infant feeding and psychosocial care. It also sets up temporary learning centres to help children continue their education.
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Notes to Editor:
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The Poem
Don’t Mention the Children by Michael Rosen
Don’t mention the children.
Don’t name the dead children.
The people must not know the names
of the dead children.
The names of the children must be hidden.
The children must be nameless.
The children must leave this world
having no names.
No one must know the names of
the dead children.
No one must say the names of
the dead children.
No one must even think that the children
have names.
People must understand that it would be dangerous
to know the names of the children.
The people must be protected from
knowing the names of the children.
The names of the children could spread
like wildfire.
The people would not be safe if they knew
the names of the children.
Don’t name the dead children.
Don’t remember the dead children.
Don’t think of the dead children.
Don’t say: ‘dead children’.
End Notes
i Reported by The Guardian on 24.07.14. Israel bans radio advert listing names of children killed in Gaza | Israel | The Guardian
ii According to a report in The Guardian in April 2025, Standing Together, a progressive movement of Israelis and Palestinians, were banned by police from holding up posters of children killed in Gaza during an anti-war protest on Holocaust Memorial Day that was primarily dedicated to the children who had been needlessly killed by Israel in Gaza as well as the Israeli hostages still held captive. Article accessed 3rd September 2025. Israelis protest against Gaza war with rare outcry over Palestinian casualties | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
iii According to the latest figures from the Government Media Office in Gaza. Reported figures are unlikely to represent the full scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and its dire impacts on Gaza’s children.
About Save the Children:
Save the Children exists to create lasting change for and with children. In more than 100 countries including the UK, we make sure children stay safe, healthy and learning, and change the future for good. We find new ways to reach children, no matter where they’re growing up. For a century, we’ve stood up for children’s rights and made sure their voices are heard.
For more information visit www.savethechildren.org.uk
About Choose Love:
Choose Love is a fast, flexible and innovative movement delivering critical humanitarian aid by working directly with the local communities who need them. From providing hot food, to search and rescue, they make sure that displaced communities have what they need, when they need it. Since 2015, they’ve worked across 50 countries, with over 580 local partners, supporting people in times of crises, providing daily essentials, and ensuring displaced families and individuals have what they need to rebuild their lives. By choosing love, they’ve supported more than 7 million people in almost a decade.
In the last 23 months, Choose Love has raised $5.4 million to support people in Gaza, the West Bank and surrounding regions. They have worked with 23 partners, supporting 404,000 Palestinians by:
- Distributing food supplies and packages
- Providing clean water
- Supporting children to access mental health support
- Funding medical teams and medical aid
Choose Love UK is officially registered as a charity in England and Wales under charity number 1177927