Jewish Peaceniks UK to install ‘Gaza Tent’ on London’s Southbank

Jewish Peaceniks UK will erect a large tent on London’s Southbank from 1pm on Thursday 11 June. The tent will bear messages concerning the children of Gaza. And a main banner will read: GAZA’S CHILDREN STILL IN HELL.

Attached on either side of the tent will be washing lines with children’s clothes and tea towels. On them will be messages to the public and to the UK government.

Some of the children’s clothes will be bloodied, small trousers will have a leg cut off to indicate amputation.

Inside the tent will be photo images of children from Gaza and a soundscape of the poignant things they have been saying to their families. Gazan theatre artist Hossam Madhoun has collected these. Here are some examples:

• Do children who have their legs amputated grow new legs?
• Do the Israeli pilots who bomb children have children?
• When a missile hits us, do we feel pain or die immediately?

Approximately 10,750 Gazan children have sustained life-changing injuries and 3,800 Gazan children are currently still waiting for a medical evacuation (World Health Organisation May 2026).

In 2025 the UK government pledged to allow 300 children to come here for medical treatment. To date no more than 50 child patients have arrived.

Visitors to the tent will be able to sign a postcard to prime minister Keir Starmer. It urges him to allow entry of a much more significant number of the most seriously injured children. Jewish Peaceniks UK hopes to deliver this by hand to 10 Downing Street.

The group will confirm the exact location of the tent on 10 June.

Jewish Peaceniks UK

Jewish Peaceniks UK is a grassroots organisation of older Jewish women – mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers – who curate events to highlight what is being perpetrated against the Palestinian population in Gaza and beyond.

A key part of its mission as a Jewish group is to communicate to the UK public that condemning Israel for its crimes against humanity and its ongoing genocide is not antisemitic.

Some of the group are children of parents persecuted by the Nazi regime, who are particularly devastated to be witnessing acts of dehumanisation and genocide being perpetrated by a Jewish state created in the wake of the Holocaust.

Since September 2023 Jewish Peaceniks UK has mounted four public actions, the first a silent performance piece on the Southbank illustrating the abuse of Palestinian prisoners. And the group has raised £10,000 for Medical Aid for Palestinians and two other charities through film screening events.

Featured image via Dan Kitwood / Getty Images