Hi, my name is Sam Aziz from the United Kingdom and I have known Afnan for a while now. She has lived through so many attacks from the occupation and has continued striving through life, with getting her education completed to being married and having a beautiful family which shows the Palestinian resilience when they have been faced with such gruelling situations that we cannot even comprehend!

October the 7th changed everything! When the world woke up to the massacres in Gaza, I immediately thought of Afnan and tried reaching out but to no success as the occupation had cut off all communication. Struggling to know her whereabouts I reached to a few people she knew and finally got hold of her in November to hear that she had to leave everything in order to save herself and her family.

On contact I learned that she had been through so much losing her eldest sister, which like all Palestinians is takes its toll mentally and physically but she remains strong because of her faith.

Afnan words: I have lived through the atrocities in Palestine since the day I was born. On October the 7th as the whole world woke up to the massacres in Palestine, I had to leave my family home with my 3 babies and husband to escape being killed. My husbands office was destroyed and with only the little belongings we left like other families to save our children.

As you are all aware we lost all connection with the world, I lost connection with my eldest sister Ensherah who was still in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp with her 4 small children and husband, we had lost all contact with them for 2 months only to be told that they had been killed by the bombings. For days I felt lost and I just wanted to go to where she was and scream aloud her name so she may hear me but I was not able to leave as the bombings had become more fierce and dangerous.

My children keep asking for their aunty and they keep dreaming to go and be with her to play with their cousins but being so young they do not understand what has happened to my sister and her family and they will not see them again. It breaks my heart to see my children yearn for the food they always enjoyed, to have the freedom to play safely without any fear of being hurt. What do I tell them? What do I say? Its too much for me to bear but I have to remain strong for their sake as a mother to ensure we act as normal as possible for their mental state.

With each day that goes by the bombings have become more severe, they drop papers to evacuate to go to a safer place and bomb us without no care in the world.

Mentally and physically we are all exhausted, we have not only been robbed of our land but we have been robbed of our belongings. We see death every day but we remain strong for the sake of each other. We have a right to live like everyone else, my children and all the children in Palestine deserve to live, they have futures and they have a right to be free!

My life has changed in a way that words cannot explain, I cry for my sister every day, her children and husband. What did they do to deserve this death, what did anyone of us do to deserve the annihilation of our beautiful country! We want to live in peace but we can’t, we want freedom but its too much to ask for, we want our land back which the world has fallen deaf and blind to!

We have a way out but this cannot be done unless we get the help financially to take myself and my whole family to a safer place with your help. I have 4 siblings, my mother, father and my own family who are now looking for a way out through Egypt. We have been told that the only way is to cover $7000-$10,000 per person and I am now pleading with the world to help me raise this amount so that we can leave for Egypt and live without fear. Getting through the Egyptian border will be extremely challenging but we have hope.

These amounts include their passport and visa fees. Due to the current situation these amounts are increasing by the Egyptians.

Passport fees: $150 per person

Min living cost per family: $350-400

Our target is based on the current costs that all Palestinians are having to pay to the Egyptians in order to get out safely which have been mostly done by all fundraisers. These costs as advised are non negotiable so every penny counts for us right now to hit this target as soon as we can to give Afnan and her beautiful family hope to escape this darkness!

Direct beneficiaries of this GoFundMe appeal will be Afnan Ali and all the 14 members of her family.

Afnan has 4 Siblings, Esraa, Jana and Mohammed. Esraa's family includes Mohammed and Mahmoud. Mohammeds family include, Alaa and Ali. Afnans family includes, Abdullah, Ali, Khader, and Sally. Afnans parents, Najwa and Ali Rekhawi.

I urgently need everyone's help in this to bring them all to safety. May Allah bless each and everyone of you who will be part of this mission with me. Please can I ask that you all share this link with your networks so that we can all be part of their journey and smash this target! Thank you!