On Wednesday, September 3, 2025, shoppers across the United Kingdom encountered an unexpected sight: every Lush Cosmetics store, factory, and the company’s UK website were shuttered, their windows and homepages boldly proclaiming, “STOP STARVING GAZA — WE ARE CLOSED IN SOLIDARITY.” This unprecedented, one-day closure by one of Britain’s best-known beauty brands was not a marketing stunt, but a pointed act of protest in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Lush, a company founded in 1994 and now operating 869 stores in 50 countries, has long prided itself on ethical stances. But this move—halting business across more than 100 UK shops, closing factories, and taking its e-commerce offline—was a dramatic escalation. According to a statement on Lush’s website, the company sought to express the anguish felt “seeing the images of starving people in Gaza, Palestine,” and to protest what it described as the Israeli government’s prevention of urgent humanitarian assistance from entering the enclave. “Like the rest of the world, we struggle to find ways we can help whilst the Israeli government is preventing urgent humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza,” the statement read, as reported by The Scotsman.
The timing was deliberate. The closure came just two days before the 700th day of Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023 and has, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, claimed more than 63,000 Palestinian lives and left over 158,000 injured. The conflict was triggered by a deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 Israelis and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has drawn widespread condemnation for alleged grave abuses of international law, including attacks on hospitals, the indiscriminate killing of civilians, and the creation of famine conditions, as reported by BBC and FashionNetwork.com.
The situation in Gaza has become increasingly dire. The United Nations and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world’s leading hunger monitor, recently reported that half a million people in Gaza are suffering from famine. According to IPC, this crisis is “entirely man-made,” a view echoed by many humanitarian organizations. The pace of malnutrition-related deaths has accelerated, with over 360 people—including 131 children—dying from starvation during the war, and 83 such deaths recorded in just the last 11 days, according to The New Arab. The United Nations maintains that Israel is obliged under international humanitarian law to ensure food and medical supplies reach Gaza’s population. However, Israel’s government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly denied that famine exists in Gaza, instead blaming aid agencies and Hamas for any hunger. “Where there is hunger, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas,” Netanyahu has said, as reported by BBC.
Lush’s protest was far from symbolic. The closure was expected to cost the company an estimated £300,000 in lost takings, according to co-founder Mark Constantine, who told LBC radio, “It would be nice to be able to pay for food to go into Gaza, rather than just sacrificing [profits].” Notably, all agency staff were paid for the closure day, ensuring that the loss was borne by the company, not its workers, as confirmed by a Lush spokesperson to the PA news agency.
The company’s statement went further, calling on the UK government to “bring an immediate stop to the death and destruction, including an end to arms sales from the UK” to Israel. Lush highlighted that by shutting its doors, not only would it lose a day’s profits, but the UK government would also lose a day of tax contributions from both the company and its customers. “We hope they too hear the message our closure sends, with more government action needed,” the statement declared. The protest was intended to send a message to policymakers and the public alike, hoping to spark debate and, ultimately, change.
For customers, the closure was both a disruption and a call to conscience. Lush apologized for any inconvenience, but expressed gratitude for the support of its customer base, noting that “many of our customers share the same anxiety about the current situation in Gaza.” This empathy has been reflected in previous company initiatives. Last year, Lush launched the Watermelon Slice soap, a fundraising product shaped like a watermelon—an enduring symbol of Palestinian solidarity. The soap quickly became the most successful single-issue fundraising product in Lush’s history, with 100% of profits going to support mental health services for Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank. Building on that success, Lush announced it would reissue the soap, with proceeds now earmarked for medical services and charities providing prosthetic limbs to those injured in Gaza.
Lush’s activism is not new. The company has a history of taking public stances on social issues, from campaigning against undercover police abuses in the UK with its “#Spycops” campaign in 2018, to boycotting certain social media platforms over concerns about teenage body image. However, its approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict has not been without controversy. In October 2023, Lush opposed the placement of a “Boycott Israel” poster in a Dublin store, stating that it did not represent the company’s ethos of inclusivity: “All Are Welcome. Always.” This nuanced stance highlights the company’s effort to balance activism with a commitment to inclusivity and open dialogue.
Globally, Lush’s move could inspire similar actions. The company operates in more than 50 countries and hinted that “other Lush countries” may follow suit in expressing solidarity with Gaza. The closure’s impact, therefore, may ripple beyond Britain’s borders, amplifying calls for humanitarian action and policy change.
The wider political context remains fraught. The UK government has faced mounting pressure to reassess its arms sales to Israel and its role in the conflict. Last month, the British prime minister signaled that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state later in September unless Israel met certain conditions, including addressing the humanitarian crisis, implementing a ceasefire, and reviving the prospect of a two-state solution. In a recent statement to the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Gaza as experiencing a “man-made famine” due to Israel’s continued aid restrictions.
Israel, for its part, continues to dispute international reports on the scale of the humanitarian crisis, denying any restrictions on aid deliveries and challenging the figures on malnutrition-related deaths provided by Gaza’s health ministry and the IPC. The Israeli government insists its military campaign is a justified response to the October 2023 Hamas attack, emphasizing national security and the ongoing threat posed by militants in Gaza.
For now, Lush’s bold stand has brought renewed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, while sparking debate in the UK and beyond about the responsibilities of businesses, governments, and individuals in the face of such crises. Whether this day-long closure will prompt meaningful policy change remains to be seen, but it has undoubtedly forced thousands to pause, reflect, and confront the uncomfortable realities behind those locked shop doors.
