Help Aya's family to survive back the war in Gaza

My name is Dalia Abdou. I live in canada and I am raising money on behalf a family who stuck on Rafah border..

That's their story.

Citizens of the free world,

My name is Arwa Skaik, a 57 year old widow and mother from Gaza, currently stuck with my 3 sons:

My eldest son Samer Skaik (36 years old) and his wife and children Foad (7 years), Sami (5 years), and Zaina (3 years). My son Yahia (27 years old) and my youngest son Youssef (24 years old).

My recently widowed daughter in law, Lina Skaik (24 years old) and her daughters Arwa (5 years old) and Maryam (2 years old).

And lastly my son in law, Mahmoud Al Ostaz (43 years old) whose wife (My daughter Aya and 4 children recently evacuated to Egypt under the sponsorship of the Canadian embassy. Mahmoud however was unable to evacuate as he did not have enough money to pay at the Egyptian border and so he had to let my daughter and her 4 children escape Gaza alone without him.

As I write my story today, myself and all family members are stuck in a small tent in Rafah waiting on one of two things: Our death or God’s mercy to allow us to escape these atrocities.

Our story may not be unique since every single person in Gaza that we know is sharing these horrible circumstances of unimaginable loss, fear for their lives and their loved ones’, and worsening quality of life.

Since the early weeks of the aggression on Gaza, I have lost my dear son, Ahmad Skaik who was mercilessly murdered by an airstrike that bombed a building that Ahmad and his pregnant wife Lina and 2 young daughters were seeking refuge right next to after they got a warning to evacuate their home as it will be targeted by the next airstrike.

That night, on October 10th, we did not only lose Ahmad, but also his unborn 6 month old son who was killed as a result of the injuries that his then pregnant wife Lina, had endured that night. By the grace of God, Lina and her two daughters barely came out alive. Lina, however, had to undergo a c-section without anesthesia to get her killed fetus out and then later another surgery without anesthesia to clean up an infection in her insides, all of which led to Lina having intense scarring and complications that affected her gut and visceral health immensely.

Only a few days later, my children, grandchildren, and I had to quickly flee from the North to the South to seek shelter leaving everything we ever owned behind from our homes, cars, clothing, and all personal belongings behind in false hopes to return to our city, Gaza, only weeks later. Little did we know that we were going to be displaced not once, not twice, but 4 times going from home to home, asking strangers to host us until we are able to return to our homes. Our multiple displacement were the result of different airstrikes targeting near by residential buildings that caused direct destruction to the homes we were seeking shelter in. That being said, by God’s grace and mercy, we miraculously escaped death multiple times over the past 4+ months.

Like most residents of Gaza, our hopes and dreams of returning to our city were shattered after getting news that Israeli Airstrikes has completely destroyed everything we have worked so hard to build and earn for decades.

It’s been almost 5 months now and we have endured the unimaginable suffering and pain of being under the constant threat of bombardment, multiple displacements, starvation, harsh winter conditions, and worsening health and medical problems.

We have lost everything and we are on the brink of famine and we need your help and support now more than ever to allow us to flee from Gaza and get to Egypt safely so my grandchildren, my children, their spouses, Lina, Mahmoud, and myself can finally breathe and receive medical care for both myself and my daughter in law Lina and allow my son in law, Mahmoud to be finally be reunited with my daughter and his 4 young children in Egypt.