Hello, my name is Ola. I am Palestinian from Gaza, currently living in France, and I’ve organized this event on behalf of my aunt Nebal and her family. We are urgently trying to get them to safety, from Gaza to Egypt.

Over the past twelve months, my aunt Nebal has endured unimaginable suffering, and the danger to her and her family still looms large. They face death, destruction, and hunger every single day. Right now, they are living in a fragile tent in Khan Younis with her family of 8 members. Her eldest son’s family, consisting of 4 members—Raed, his wife, and their young children, Nebal and Nidal—are also with them.

I’m reaching out to share the heartbreaking story of my aunt Nebal’s family. Please take a minute to read it:

"Hello, we are still alive—for now. But I don’t know what will happen in the next few moments. I’m speaking to your kind and compassionate hearts. Before the war, we had a home where my children, their spouses, and their children lived with me and my husband. But we were forced to flee from northern Gaza to the south. Then, we took refuge in a school overcrowded with 8,000 people. The conditions were unbearable—diseases spread quickly in such a crowded space. As the fighting got closer, we had to move again, this time to Rafah. When Rafah came under attack, we fled to Khan Younis. Now, we live in a tent. It’s unbearably hot in the summer, and in the winter, the rain and cold seep in. The harsh cold gnaws at our children's fragile bodies. Life in these tents is incredibly difficult—I don’t know how much longer we can survive here without permanent damage to the bodies and minds of our children and elders.

I am also battling my own health issues. The war and its horrors have caused me to develop a heart condition that requires catheterization, but there is no way to get the care I need in Gaza. I also have kidney stones. My husband Nidal suffers from kidney failure and has only one kidney left. We are supposed to be the providers for this family, but in our current condition, how can we take care of our children?"

Now, my entire family is living in a tent in Khan Younis, struggling to find enough food, clean water, and medicine. We face the cold with little to protect us—we don’t have warm clothes or enough blankets. There’s no electricity, and we rely on a tiny source of power just to keep our phones charged.

Before the war, we had dreams and successes. My eldest son worked at a telecommunications company, but it was bombed in the early days of the war. He lost his job and now struggles to support his wife and two children, Nidal and Nebal. My second son, Mousa, is a computer engineer. His apartment, which he had just furnished for his new bride, was destroyed in a bombing. They lost everything. Now, they live with us in tents. My twins, Iman and Mohammed, were in their final year of high school, but they couldn’t begin their studies because of the war. My younger children, Mayar and Ahmed, are in grades 8 and 5. My husband Nidal also suffers deeply, living with just one kidney.

Our home is gone, and so are all our hopes for the future. We’ve lost everything.

We need your compassion and support. We cannot provide for our children or grandchildren anymore. We need your help to secure safe food, water, and shelter.

It costs $5,000 per adult and $2,500 per child to cross the Rafah border, and the costs are rising every day. We need a total of $55,000 for the 12 of us (10 adults and 2 children), and an additional $30,000 to cover living expenses in Egypt, including school for 4 of the children and kindergarten for 2 of them. This also includes university for two others and the healthcare that my husband and I so desperately need, along with housing. There are also transaction fees (around 2.9%) that could increase. In total, we need $85,000. We’ve lost all our savings after being forced to evacuate our home and enduring the steep cost of survival during the war.

This is my aunt’s reality:

This is their last hope. With your support, you can save them. Every minute that passes brings them closer to death. Their lives are being destroyed physically, emotionally, and educationally. They are suffering terribly, unable to afford food or water for their large family.

As parents, we are supposed to take care of our children, but we can’t even provide them with basic necessities like food, water, and medicine. We are holding on to the hope that someone can help save my family and give us the chance to rebuild our lives and achieve the dreams we once had.

What we need:

We are exhausted beyond measure. We can’t endure this any longer. The war has left us with no other choice but to try to escape to Egypt, where we hope to find safety, get me the heart surgery I need, and find proper healthcare for my husband. We also want our children to have the education they deserve and the basic rights to food, water, and proper medical care.