Irish rock band U2 has issued a statement condemning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and urging action to protect civilians.

Their statement, released on Instagram, assumes significance because they are probably the biggest popular music artistes who have spoken out against Israel and also because frontman Bono had condemned Hamas earlier on stage.

"Everyone has long been horrified by what is unfolding in Gaza - but the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory... we want our audience to know where we each stand," the band said.

Bono recalled avoiding direct political comment on the Middle East, except for the October 7 Nova music festival attack, which he called “evil.”

He compared images from Gaza to famine in Ethiopia in 1985: "When the loss of non-combatant life en masse appears so calculated... especially the deaths of children, then 'evil' is not a hyperbolic adjective."

Guitarist The Edge posed three questions to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "Do you truly believe that such devastation... can happen without heaping generational shame?... If you reject the two-state solution... What is your political vision? Simply perpetual conflict?"

Bassist Adam Clayton said, "The humanitarian crisis in Gaza... looks like revenge on a civilian population who are not responsible for Hamas' murderous attack... Preserving civilian life is a choice in this war."

Drummer Larry Mullen Jr condemned Hamas’s massacre but called Israel’s response excessive.

"The indiscriminate decimation of most homes and hospitals in Gaza... was not expected. Imposing famine was not expected... starving innocent civilians as a weapon of war is inhumane and criminal... Silence serves none of us," he said.