Help Aziz Family to Evacuate to Egypt from Gaza

Hello,

My Name is Mohammed Ghazi, I’m creating this fundraiser to help my sister’s family survive the war in Gaza and evacuate to EGYPT. The story here has been written by my dear nephew Aziz.

I'm Aziz Al Sawafere, 19 years old, I live in GAZA CITY, I'm reaching out to you after long of hesitation to setup this fundraiser to help me and my family survive this war in Gaza and temporarily evacuate to EGYPT..

I’m in my second year in college as a computer engineer, my father Mohammed 47 years old, worked in the grocery business; my mother, 42 years old, worked as a math teacher in GAZA, my elder brother Ahmed 24 years old was working as a freelancer and was supposed to get married last November 2023. My elder sister Esra, 21 years old is in her last year of Art college, my sister Dina, 16 years old, is in high school; and our youngest brother Firas is 7 years old.

We were living a quiet and a sort of peaceful life. I had lots of dreams for the future: to complete my studies here in GAZA and then continue my higher education at some prestigious university abroad. My role model is my mother, as she has completed her university degree in Mathematics with distinction while married and with 5 children.

A dream... I will reach my goals and fulfill my destiny in the next few years— Wake up… Oh, We are at a shelter in Deir Al Balah, and it’s very noisy… the ugly truth comes as bombardment from the sky… and the haunting buzz of surveillance drones. And the sounds of the crowds outside our shelter as they look for people buried under the rubble, or shelter. We are living under an imaginable attack… The War of the Century…

Is it the war again? I have witnessed 6 wars in my life in Gaza, but this is not normal war, for the first time in my life, I felt too scared with the scale of bombing. My father said that we have no choice but to evacuate the house as announced; where to go? News flooded in: my grandpa’s house where bombed, my aunt’s as well, and one of my cousins was gone. We went to Al-Shifa hospital to seek shelter. With more than 30k people there, and my family had to sleep on the street.

On October 8th, heavy bombardment started on Gaza City and all over the Gaza Strip, from north to south…

After a few days, we decided to leave the city to south on feet. My father stayed behind as he had to stay with his mother who can't walk due to her age, and that was the last day we saw our father, as the way to north has been blocked-off since.

We decided to stay in Deir El Balah City, so-called one of the safe zones from the air-attack. We got some money from my father before we fled south that helped us at the beginning, then what? Food was getting too expensive with very aid allowed to reach to the city; we have had to buy almost everything, food, drinking water, winter clothes, some blankets, etc. We are running out of money day by day, with no backup.

During the day, we live through another war we did not expect to find ourselves in: finding a source of heat to bake some bread, finding a source of clean water to drink, standing in long queues to get some aid to eat. We try to avoid any dangerous place, which is every place in Gaza, as we fight our own wars against the cold, rain, disease and so many other things.

We had struggled a lot to find some medicine or any medical attention when my youngest brother Firas got sick with high fever. This may be a small thing which can be treated easily, but alas, there is no treatment around us in Gaza. We are so tired and after more than 200 days in these wars we lost any ability to continue doing this. How can we survive longer if the Rafah invasion ends up happening, and all sources of aid are blocked. What will be our fate? All thoughts are killing us as we can’t protect ourselves or family from the unknowns awaiting us in this situation.

We are seeking your help, to evacuate from death and find some safe place outside the strip until this war is over. That is our last chance before Rafah boarder with EGYPT gets closed when the Rafah invasion happens.

In order to facilitate my family's evacuation from Gaza and to Egypt.

COST BREAKDOWN:

I'm setting up this GoFundMe campaign to raise CAD $65,000 here is the breakdown of the funds:

A total of USD $54,400 has been allocated to cover the expenses associated with obtaining permits to leave Gaza, as well as crossing fees at Rafah, at the Egypt-Gaza border. This amount breaks down to CAD $6,800 per person, including my grandmother (64 years) & Grandfather of my mother (72 years) total of 8 people (My mother, Ahmed, Esra, Dina, Aziz, Firas).

Amount of CAD $5000 to support my father in north of GAZA to survive.

The rest is intended to cover our expenses until the war is over and we are able to back to Gaza to gather again with our father (sufficing ourselves desperately with the hope that he will stay alive and safe till then.)

Every donation, no matter how small, will make a significant difference to my family's safety. The funds raised will be used transparently and efficiently to ensure that every dollar is spent on ensuring their safety.

My family and I are deeply grateful for your support, and I am deeply grateful for any assistance you may be able to provide during this difficult time. Please share this campaign with your friends, family, and colleagues so that we can reach our goal and provide safety for my family.

Thank you a lot.