Lewis Hamilton visits Egypt’s Rafah crossing and Gaza aid facilities

Lewis Hamilton has visited Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip to meet organisations sending humanitarian aid to the territory.

The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has spoken out about conflict and humanitarian crises in the region, and has called for peace. He has frequently posted on social media about children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.

“I think we need to make sure we’re pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there’s a lot of peace that I’m hoping we get to at some stage,” Hamilton said last month.

A ceasefire agreement reached last year has halted major combat operations in Gaza, but the amount of aid getting in to the strip continues to fall far short of the agreed-upon minimum of 600 trucks a day.

Israeli forces have continued to advance, expanding their control from 53% of the territory to at least 60%, an independent commission of UN experts said last month.

Airstrikes also continue across, and Israeli fire along the advancing front has killed at least 196 Palestinians, including 18 women, 32 boys and 11 girls, the commission said.

Hamilton toured Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza before visiting logistics warehouses operated by the Egyptian Red Crescent, which facilitates the entry of aid in to Gaza.

At the crossing, Hamilton greeted aid workers with “Assalamu alaikum” a widely used Arabic greeting meaning “peace be upon you.” He shook hands and briefly spoke to workers and officials.

Khaled Megawer, the governor of North Sinai, where Rafah is located, said the visit was intended to help Hamilton learn about Egypt’s efforts to send aid to Gaza.

The visit comes after Hamilton made his 400th race start on Sunday at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.

The first black F1 driver, he made his debut with McLaren in 2007. He is only the second F1 driver to start 400 races after his former teammate Fernando Alonso, who achieved the milestone in 2024.