Ezzat's family on the search for food & water

Dear people

My name is Inge Neefs and I am hoping to collect money to support Ezzat's family in their struggle for daily survival in the Gaza Strip. Only very recently they called out to say they had nothing left and were in need of clothes, blankets, food and water.

I met Ezzat and his sister Maysa when they were but teenagers, in a time in which we were about 12 years younger. Back then, we spent time together playing on the sand road of Al-Samouni street, splashing one another at the sea shore, drawing in Al Qattan's children center and dreaming of a better Gaza, not suspecting that it could become any worse than what they had already gone through in their young lives. Maysa, Ezzat and their family had lived through horror during the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008-2009, which they were trying to forget.

I was there as a volunteer and activist, in solidarity and to write about daily life under Israeli occupation, a story that is too often told in a biased way. I wanted to hear and amplify the voices of Gaza's population.

Ezzat has turned 27 and Maysa is 24. They are living with their mother and father and five other siblings. This means your support would also go to 11-year old Yazan, Ahmed (19), Dia (22), Mohammed (23) , Norah (28) and their parents Sahar (44) and Imad (54).

In October Ezzat and his family had to flee their house in Al-Zeitoen, a rural area close to Gaza City.

Since then, they relocated to Rafah with no more shelter than a tent, found out that their house has been bombed to the ground, were attacked in their tent by the Israeli army, to which they decided to head north again, to Nuseirat to live yet again in a tent. Shortly after their arrival, Ezzat learned his sister, her husband and their four children were killed in an Israeli attack.

The family barely survives and has run out of money. Food has become exceptionally expensive and there is not a single income to provide for the basic needs. So, on top of the daily violence, the constant distress about safety, there's hunger.

This means any donation you send, will be used for primary needs like shelter, food and water.