CNN —Israel’s representative at Venice’s Biennale exhibition has said she won’t unveil the country’s pavilion until a hostage and ceasefire deal has been reached in Gaza. Artist Ruth Patir said the exhibit in the Italian city “will only open when the release of hostages and ceasefire agreement happens” in a statement shared on Instagram Tuesday. Patir said she would raise her voice “with those I stand with in their scream, ceasefire now, bring the people back from captivity. A petition signed by more than 23,000 people had recently called for Israel to be excluded from the international cultural exhibition, as calls for truce and an independently Palestinian state have grown. Israeli attacks in Gaza have since killed at least 33,797 Palestinians and injured another 76,465 people, according to the Ministry of Health there.

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Persons: CNN —, won’t, Ruth Patir, Patir, Mira Lapidot, Tamar Margalit, ” Patir, “, ” Organizations: CNN, CNN — Israel’s, Venice’s, Venice Biennale, Hamas, Ministry of Health, Rights Watch, Oxfam Locations: Gaza, Italian, Venice, Israel, Patir