Natural beauty products chain Lush closed all its UK stores on Wednesday, as well as its webstore and factories, with the one-day closure being a protest against starvation in Gaza.

The company said it’s showing solidarity with people in Gaza and accused the Israeli government of preventing urgent humanitarian assistance from entering the territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied there’s starvation in Gaza and blamed aid agencies and Hamas for any hunger.

As well as the Lush homepage proclaiming “Stop starving Gaza”, the company has posters carrying that message in its store windows. 

The company said it hopes the UK government, which will be losing the tax revenue on profits that Lush would have made on Wednesday, will notice the protest and take action such as stopping arms sales to Israel.

It also apologised to customers for the inconvenience and said “we know that many of our customers share the same anxiety about the current situation in Gaza”.

It added that “our fundraising soap, Watermelon Slice, has been the most successful single issue fundraising product in the history of Lush, indicating how strongly our customers feel and we are grateful to have been able to raise funds towards child mental health support in Palestine. We now plan to make this soap available again, with the funds going to medical services, including charities that are gearing up to provide prosthetic limb services to adults and children injured in Gaza.”

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which monitors hunger globally, has claimed half a million people in Gaza are suffering from famine while Israel has said that’s not the case.

Israel has been running its military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people with 251 taken hostage.

The numbers killed in Gaza since then have been disputed but the territory’s health ministry have quoted a figure higher than 63,000.