From a Wedding to a Fight for Survival: Support Dr. Mohammed

All the donations we received in recent months HAVE RUN OUT…but they gave us days where we could live with some relative safety and buy food and water, before returning again to the daily struggle for survival. Today, we need a helping hand once more.

From a Wedding Dream and a future to a Fight for Survival: Support Dr. Mohammad and Bessan to Stay Alive.

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We were counting the days until our wedding… a dress waiting for me, and a small home we dreamed of filling with laughter and flowers. Every detail was ready " the wedding food, the music, the dances, and even the bouquet I carefully chose". We built a home full of memories after years of separation while Mohammad studied medicine in Egypt, and I waited for the day we would finally be together under one roof. But the war broke out just three days before our wedding, destroying everything.

We lost not only our home but also the joy we had waited for years to experience. Every item in that house told a story, but in moments everything vanished. We first fled to the south empty-handed, then continued to be displaced six more times between the southern and central Gaza Strip, carrying fear and anxiety with every step.

Our days now begin with suffocating heat and end with the sounds of explosions—sometimes distant, sometimes terrifyingly close. We wake up early, not because we are rested, but because the sun turns our tent into an oven before noon. The first thing we do is search for water, then count the little money we have left to see if we can afford a meal that day. Sometimes we find enough, sometimes we go to bed hungry. Once, while rushing to prepare food, I cut my hand on shards of glass mixed with wood and wondered how much a body can endure before breaking.

In the first year of the war, Mohammad worked as a volunteer doctor at Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week, without pay. After our displacement, we opened our own clinic, MHD, to treat people and provide free medication. Mohammad never stopped helping patients wherever we were displaced, even under the harshest conditions.

But the night that took the most from us was the night we had to flee again. Evacuation orders, noises, and the glow of shelling approaching. I felt the end was near, and all I could think of was Mohammad, terrified I might lose him before seeing him as my husband. I had a panic attack until he grabbed my hand tightly and whispered, “I’m with you.” We ran together through the dark street, and I counted our steps as if counting heartbeats keeping us alive.

Amidst all this destruction, our love remains the one thing the war couldn’t destroy. I still keep the bouquet Mohammad gave me, a small bridge between who we were and who we are now.

But the money we saved and the donations we received have run out, and we face the struggle again. We now need about $2,000 each month for food, water, and rent—just to keep breathing and keep our hope alive until one day we can leave for safety.

Your support means more than money, it means we are not alone, that there are people who remember us, care for us, and wait for our updates, believing we deserve to live. Every contribution, no matter how small, is a real step toward the dream I hold onto: that the war ends, I leave Gaza safely holding Mohammad’s hand, heading toward a new life with my family by my side , all safe and alive.

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[From the organizer] : I met Mohammed's cousin through a mutual aid group, and thus met Mohammed and Bessan. I have been in touch with them every week for the past year and a half, through their many displacements and the opening of their free health clinic. Because GoFundMe is not supported in their region, I collect the donations and send everything to the couple directly.