Donate to save 9 years old Maryam from starvation in Gaza

Hello, my name is Ingrid Kayyali, and I am from Slovakia. I first learned about Maryam’s story through the news, and since then, I have not been able to forget her. I am following their story and have managed to get a direct connection to the family. As a mother, when I look at Maryam, I see my own daughter. My heart breaks knowing that no child should ever suffer like this, and no mother should have to watch her child slowly starve. That is why I am launching this urgent appeal. This is not just a cause, it is personal. It is human. It is urgent.

I am raising emergency funds for the AbdulAziz Dawas family, the family of Abdulaziz Mahmoud Dawas (father), a displaced family of six trapped in central Gaza. They are enduring unimaginable hardship: extreme hunger, homelessness, and lack of medical care. Their 9-year-old daughter, Maryam, is now in a critical, life-threatening condition and needs our help and support. We must act now to save her life.

Who you are helping:

You are helping the AbdulAziz Dawas family, Mahmoud (14), Maryam (9, fighting for her life), one-year-old twin boys Mohammed and Sami, their mother Mudalala, a full-time caregiver who risks her safety daily to collect aid and has been injured multiple times during this, and their father Abdelaziz, a former bricklayer now unemployed due to the war. Maryam is wasting away before their eyes.

Maryam’s Story:

Forced from their home in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, after relentless bombing destroyed their community, the Dawas family now survives in a makeshift shelter in central Gaza, with no kitchen, no clean water, and no safe space. There is no steady food supply; some days, they go without food. They have only one old mobile phone with no credit, making it almost impossible to call for help. Our first contact with them came through a journalist. They rely on overcrowded charity food kitchens, which are irregular and often run out before the family is served.

Maryam used to weigh 22 kg. She now weighs just 9 kg at age 9, less than half of what a healthy child her age should weigh. She is so severely malnourished that her ribs are visibly protruding. She is too weak to stand. Too tired to cry.

A message from her mother, Mudalala:

I need your help, more than ever. Before the war, Maryam was healthy, full of life, and loved to make beadwork as a hobby. Now, she spends her days lying down, drained of energy, unable to play, barely able to speak.

Her weight has dropped from 25 kg before the war to just over 9 kg now. She has been hospitalised multiple times, in the north, in the south, and at Friends of the Patient, and received a full month of therapeutic food (including F75 milk), but her weight never improved.

Doctors have told us that treatment abroad is her only chance, but the waiting lists are long and we fears she will not survive long enough to reach the top.

The war and her illness have taken away Maryam’s spirit. Once lively and full of energy, she is now withdrawn and silent. She no longer walks, leaves the camp, or plays with other children. Most people in the camp don’t even know she exists until they see her frail body and are struck by the depth of her suffering.

She often tells me she wishes she could be her old self again, to run, to laugh, to play. Even making beadwork, her favourite hobby, now exhausts her so quickly that she must lie down and sleep.

How Your Contributions Will Be Used

Emergency Food and Water: Purchase of any available market supplies, including staple foods and water tanks, to sustain the family.

Therapeutic Nutrition for Maryam: High-calorie medical supplements and fortified nutritional bars (such as peanut-based therapeutic foods) to address severe acute malnutrition.

Infant Care for the Twin Boys: Provision of formula, clean water, nappies, and essential hygiene products.

Communication and Connectivity: Phone credit to maintain vital contact with aid workers, journalists, and medical professionals.

Urgent Medical Evacuation Support: Funding for transport, documentation, and medical escort expenses if evacuation is approved (with active engagement from international NGOs to secure this).

Basic Survival Essentials: Blankets, clothing, and other critical supplies to ensure the family’s safety, dignity, and wellbeing.

Why This Fund is Critical

This is not just a relief fund — this is Maryam’s evacuation fund.

Without urgent medical transfer to a specialist hospital abroad, Maryam will not survive. Every donation, no matter the size, brings her closer to the care she needs and helps her family endure the inhumane conditions they face every day.

We Cannot Afford to Wait.

In Gaza right now, children like Maryam are dying from preventable causes, simply because they cannot reach treatment in time. We have one chance to save her life, and it is now.

Maryam also has a petition - What Is This Petition?

This is an urgent petition calling on the UK government to evacuate 9‑year‑old Maryam Abdulaziz Mahmoud Dawas, a severely malnourished child trapped in Gaza, to receive critical NHS medical care in the UK.

While the UK government pledged to evacuate 300 seriously ill children from Gaza for medical treatment, that commitment will only matter if children like Maryam are included.

How Donors Can Help

By signing and sharing this petition, you help raise awareness, put pressure on UK decision-makers, and increase the chances that Maryam, and potentially other vulnerable children, receive the urgent evacuation and care they desperately need.

Share Maryam's family's petition to get the UK Government to evacuate her: https://www.change.org/p/urgent-add-9-year-old-maryam-dawas-on-uk-evacuation-list-from-gaza-now

The more people who see it, the greater the chance we can raise what is needed in time. This is not just about giving, it’s about saving a child’s life, and not many are left in Gaza. Your help could be the reason Maryam survives.

Please, donate whatever you can — every amount makes a difference.

Share Maryam’s story by sharing her GoFundMe

Thank you for all your support.

Verified Beneficiary: All funds raised will go directly to the Dawas family’s verified beneficiary, Maryam’s father, Abdulaziz Mahmoud Dawas, the family’s sole breadwinner. We are facilitating the transfer to ensure it reaches him safely and without delays. Abdulaziz is currently unable to work due to the war and displacement, and he is caring for Maryam his sick child, his wife and children under extremely difficult conditions.

"Legal Disclaimer:

This fundraiser is a strictly humanitarian initiative. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected—directly or indirectly—to any armed group, political organisation, or political activity. All funds raised are designated solely for the purpose of providing urgent, life-saving medical treatment and related humanitarian support to a critically ill child and her civilian family. No portion of the proceeds will be used for any purpose other than the stated humanitarian objectives."

المستفيد الموثّق: ستذهب جميع الأموال التي يتم جمعها مباشرة إلى المستفيد الموثّق لعائلة دواهس، والد مريم، عبد العزيز محمود دواهس، وهو المعيل الوحيد للأسرة. نحن نسهل عملية التحويل لضمان وصولها إليه بأمان ودون تأخير. عبد العزيز غير قادر حاليًا على العمل بسبب الحرب والنزوح، وهو يعتني بمريم طفلته المريضة، وزوجته وأطفاله في ظل ظروف شديدة الصعوبة.