Donation protected
UPDATE – July 2025
When we first created this GoFundMe (in 2023), our hope was to evacuate our family from Gaza and bring them to safety in Australia. Sadly, that wasn’t possible.
Since then, the funds have been used to help them survive inside Gaza - providing food, clean water, wood for cooking, and phone data to stay connected.
We are now reopening this fundraiser to continue supporting their survival.
They are starving under siege. Every cent helps.
Our Story
At midnight on October 31ˢᵗ, 2023, my wife woke me with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry baby, but your mum is gone.”
In a frantic state, I dialled my brother Kamal’s number, he had been caring for our mother for the past six years. Kamal didn’t answer. Neither did my other brothers in Jabalia Camp.
Desperately searching for answers, I turned on the news and saw Jabalia was being bombed. Block 4, where my family lived, had been demolished.
Two days later, Kamal finally called.
“We’re alive,” he said. “But tired, cold, and hungry.”
He and his family had walked for seven hours to Khan Younis, each carrying just one backpack.
“We weren’t allowed to stop. We couldn’t help the injured. There were dead bodies on the road.”
Now, they were sheltering in a school with hundreds of others - no food, no blankets, no showers. Just survival.
Our Loss
A few weeks ago, our beloved niece Rawan, a newlywed and a Maths teacher, was killed in a bombing.
She had been sheltering with her in-laws when the airstrike hit. The only survivor was her husband, who had stepped out to fetch water.
Rawan was bright, loving, and full of hope for the future. She had just begun a new chapter in life.
We grieve her deeply - even as we try to keep the rest of our family alive.
There are no words for this kind of pain. Only the will to keep going.
Our Family
Kamal has five children. His eldest daughter Baraa is an English teacher with a toddler.
His daughter Rawan recently killed in a bombing while sheltering with her in-laws. His son Jameel, only 17, loves gaming and helping his father with daily chores.
When I last saw Kamal in 2019, he looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Still, he shared his dream with me:
“I want to own a chicken farm, so I can feed our family, and help people in need.”
Kamal is generous, hardworking, and kind. But now, he and so many in our family have lost everything and face hunger every day.
I have six other siblings, all with families of their own, many with young children and grandchildren.
They are also displaced inside Gaza, some living in tents, others crowding into the partially damaged homes of relatives, and many sheltering in overcrowded school buildings.
These are not safe or adequate living conditions. There is no consistent access to food, clean water, or privacy, only survival.
This fundraiser helps all of them. We are doing everything we can to share everything we receive, to keep as many people as possible alive.
Who This Fundraiser Supports
This fundraiser supports our extended family in Gaza - over 60 relatives who are now displaced, starving, and surviving under siege. The names of our family members are listed below:
- Kamal Sharaf, his wife Segal, and their 4 children: Baraa, Jameel, Alaa & Janan
- Mahmoud Sharaf, his wife, and their six children
- Jamal Sharaf, his wife, two children, one daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren
- Jalal Sharaf, his wife and seven children
- Nadia Sharaf, her husband, and their seven children
- Maryam Sharaf, her husband, and their eleven children
- Jamalat Sharaf, her husband, and their twelve children
- Asmaa Sharaf, her husband, and their three children
These are not just names. They are loved ones. They are parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, each of them trying to stay alive with dignity in the face of unimaginable hardship.
Why We’re Asking for Help
This fund was originally created to support tourist visa applications (Subclass 600) to bring our family to temporary safety in Australia. In late 2023, the Australian government announced that Palestinians with family in Australia could apply for visitor visas
We submitted applications and paid the fees, but none were granted.
Now, this fund is a lifeline for survival inside Gaza.
There is no consistent aid. No fuel. No medicine. No clean water.
Even the act of cooking food requires burning wood scavenged from rubble.
With the money we receive, we help cover:
- Emergency food (rice, flour, lentils - when available)
- Clean drinking water
- Wood for cooking
- Phone data so we can stay connected when possible
There are no medical supplies or hygiene products left to buy. Survival now depends on the few basics still accessible, often at extreme cost.
Every Dollar Helps
This is not just a humanitarian emergency.
It’s a siege. A famine. And for many, a death sentence.
Our family has no safety net, only us, and now, possibly you.
If you feel moved to give, your donation will go directly toward helping them stay alive.
If you cannot donate, please consider sharing this story. Awareness matters. It keeps their voices from being erased.
With Gratitude
To everyone who supported us in the beginning: thank you.
To those reading this now: your compassion means everything.
Your help is saving lives.
With all our hearts, we thank you.
With love and light,
Atty & Yousef
My last pictures with my family during my visit in June 2019
- With my niece Baraa
• With my brother Kamal
• My nephew Jameel
• My nieces Baraa, Alaa and my sister-in-law Segal
• With my niece Rawan
Organizer
Yousef Sharaf
Organizer
St Leonards, NSW