For-Gaza donation campaign

My name is Mohanad Abunada from the Netherlands, originally from Gaza, Palestine. I have initiated this donation campaign to help – to a certain extent – people in Gaza who are lacking all the necessities of life due to the ongoing war. No need to explain the situation there, as social media is full of news, photos and videos. Unfortunately, we have no power to stop this war and we can’t solve the crisis entirely, but at least we can support the people in Gaza morally and materially and reduce their burdens even for a few days.

Q1: How will the donations be transferred and collected in Gaza?

There is no issue in transferring the donations to Gaza. Donations can be transferred through banks or through financial service corporations such as Western Union. However, the issue is in liquidity. Banks and financial service corporations suffer from the unavailability of cash since banks are closed for money deposit. Therefore, the only possibility to withdraw the transferred donations is to look for someone (usually money exchange shops or traders) who has cash and is willing to hand it against transferring equivalent amount to their bank account (and usually plus some fees). There are some Facebook pages and Telegram and WhatsApp groups only for this purpose. Despite this challenge, it is still possible to get the transferred money in this way in Gaza, considering that the cash is circulating due to the absence of any exports.

Q2: How will the donations be distributed?

The best way is to distribute the donations as cash. Cash is the best because each family may have different needs than others, and thus cash enables families to buy what they exactly need instead of receiving specific stuff which can be useless for them. Unconditional cash-based aid has been proven as one of the most effective ways for supporting people in humanitarian situations such as in Gaza. It has been recommended by many International Humanitarian Organizations (e.g. ICRS). The cash will be distributed only to the people who lost their source of income, and they are in severe need (some people in Gaza still have a source of income, e.g. governmental employees who still get salaries). The cash will be distributed by contact persons who will manage it voluntarily (with no fees). I personally know and trust these contact persons and I trust that they can submit the donations to the deserving families. Reaching out to most people in need will be supported also by the local NGOs/initiatives if needed.

Q3: What can people buy with cash?

Most people in Gaza are looking for food (flour, vegetables, legumes, oil, etc.). This is because the food entering as aids is not distributed fairly (mainly distributed in shelters in specific locations) and doesn’t reach all people in need. This leads people who receive excess food (or others) as aids to sell it in order to get cash to buy something else. People also need cash to buy drinking water or to pay for demotic water vendors. Others need cash to buy (used) clothes, or to pay (part of) the house/room rent (especially those who were displaced). Also many people need cash to buy hygienic materials. These are (amongst others) some kinds of basic necessities which people need cash to pay for. Most of the materials (food and others) available in the market are originally aids sold by the people who received them and wanted to replace them by cash to provide other stuff they need. Sometimes these materials are sold from one person to person in a subsequent process making them very expensive in the end for the end-users. Also there are a few goods allowed to enter Gaza Strip (only in the southern part) but of course this happens irregularly and in very limited amounts.

Q4: Where will the donations be distributed?

Gaza strip is divided now into two separate regions: North (North Governorate and Gaza) and South (Middle Governorate, Khanyounis and Rafah). The intention is to distribute the donations in both parts. It is true that distributing donations in the North is very challenging in the moment, but it is not impossible, as this depends on the cash and materials availability as mentioned above.

Q5: Why to donate to Gaza through this campaign and not through known International NGOs?

Of course you can donate through any party. The main goal is to transfer these donations to people in need in Gaza. The crisis in Gaza is huge and it needs billions of euros to come back to the situation before the start of this war. It is the responsibility of all – both NGOs and individuals – to help people suffering there. In addition, many people feel hesitant to donate to international NGOs due to the considerable operation fees. This campaign will be managed voluntarily, while only the transfer transaction fees will be paid for.

Q6: What are the expectations?

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Around 2.3 mln people are suffering from the lack of all necessities of life. This donation campaign of course will not solve the problem in Gaza and neither mitigate it. However, it can contribute to a very limited extent to help some people in need and reduce their burdens for a few days. There is no ceiling for the campaign (neither amount nor time). However, it was required to add a target amount on this website, so it was set up to EUR 100,000 for the moment.

Q7: Why is this campaign administered through GoFundMe?

GoFundMe provides an easy, transparent and recognized platform for such a purpose, which is also monitored by compliance policies. In addition, many donating people prefer to not show their names, which is still possible through GoFundMe.

I tried to answer all possible questions, but you can always contact me through the contact form below if you have any other questions.

Thanks a lot in advance for your donations!

Regards,

Mohanad