Lewis Hamilton visits Egypt's Rafah crossing as Gaza aid falls short of agreed levels

The visit

Lewis Hamilton arrived in Egypt on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, during a break in the Formula 1 calendar. According to the North Sinai governorate, he landed at Al-Arish international airport in the morning. He then went to the Rafah land crossing with Khaled Megawer, governor of North Sinai, who showed him Egypt's efforts to support Gaza. A video released by Megawer's office shows the 41-year-old talking with humanitarian workers and asking how aid reaches Gaza. Hamilton also visited the Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in El Arish, where he was briefed on how aid is prepared and coordinated before it is sent into the territory. Rai reports that he is currently fourth in the drivers' standings with three races left, while Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has already clinched the title.

Aid shortfall in Gaza

Under a truce agreed in 2025 between Israel and Hamas, at least 600 aid trucks were supposed to enter Gaza each day, a territory where more than two million Palestinians face a severe humanitarian crisis. Aid workers say only a small share of that aid gets through the entry points Israel controls. An independent commission of UN experts said last month that Israeli forces had expanded their control from 53% of the territory to at least 60%. The Peace Council overseeing the truce said this week that Israel must act immediately to allow vital winter aid through, citing flooding and the approaching winter. Heavy rain during the week of 9 November destroyed tens of thousands of tents and killed five people, three of them children.

Hunger and the death toll

Shaun Hughes, director of the World Food Programme in the Palestinian territories, told AFP in October that about 1.4 million of the 2.1 million residents were in acute food insecurity, and that 200,000 of them were still close to the famine threshold. Gaza's health ministry puts the death toll from the Israeli military offensive at more than 74,600, and the UN considers its figures reliable. The offensive, launched in retaliation for the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, has displaced nearly the entire population of the territory.

Hamilton's public stance

Hamilton has spoken out for years on social media, calling for a ceasefire and condemning the killing of children in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Italian coverage dates his first public statement on the conflict to an Instagram story posted on 20 October 2023, in which he expressed grief over the deaths. In 2021 he founded Mission 44, a charity that supports young people's access to education and jobs. At a press conference in Austin on 22 October, ahead of the United States Grand Prix, he called for broader efforts for peace and said:

“I think we need to make sure we're pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine.”

He made his 400th race start on Sunday, 8 November, at the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, where he became the second driver in Formula 1 to reach that number, behind his former teammate Fernando Alonso, who did so in 2024.