Hi, it's Imad here and I am trying to help my family evacuate Gaza to a safer place.

As we all know now Gaza, which is one of most densely populated cities in the world, is suffering an unprecedented destruction to its infrastructure and residential buildings.

As for my family, we lost our home, which was located in the north of Gaza, as it was bombed many times, and even the place they evacuated to in the middle area of Gaza got bombed and we lost many family members over there. My family moved to Gaza as refugees in 1995 from Yemen, as we lived there as refugees when we were forced to leave Palestine in 1948, It wasn’t until 2014 that we finally managed to buy a home of our own; before that we used to move from one rental to another, working hard and saving every penny for that goal. We were so proud when we were finally able to buy our own home.

Now that we lost our home, and everything that was inside of it, and with the ongoing lack of food, water, and medical equipment, it’s impossible for us to survive in Gaza.

Here are the family members that I am trying to help:

Issam, my uncle, and Susu, my aunt, are suffering from mental trauma. I can only imagine how horrific it is for them to find themselves living for 200 days away from their home, with not enough food or water, and facing bombardments.

My uncle Alaa, his wife Sabrine, and their two kids, Jamila and Ali. These two kids were a miracle to us because my uncle and his wife had tried unsuccessfully for almost 10 years before conceiving and giving birth to these two angels. My heart shatters as I see my very young cousins losing 6+ months of their life to a war, with no school, not enough food, and surrounded by fear and questions they can’t understand the answers to.

My aunt Sammar: She is my favorite person in the world. After my grandmother passed away, my aunt became the glue that holds our family together, the one who always cares for everyone and knows all the secrets to my grandmother's recipes.

And finally both of my Parents, Suzan and Kamel to whom I owe everything. Even though we are a small family with limited means, they always brought me up to be proud of who I am and always encouraged me to learn and achieve more. Shortly before Oct. 7th, they both visited the West Bank to support my sister during a surgery. (Even though Gaza and the West Bank are both Palestinian territories, as a Gazan you are unable to visit the West Bank without a time-limited permit issued by Israel.) In our case, my parents’ permit expired while they were still stuck in West Bank. They were scared that they might be stopped by IDF, get arrested, or worse deported into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing which is a very dangerous area at the moment.

The plan now is to help my uncles and aunts to evacuate Gaza into Egypt and find a place to stay there. Crossing the Egyptian borders is unfortunately very costly now, at $5000-8000 per person. And we’ll also need to find a way for my parents to get out of the West Bank to Jordan and then to Egypt to reunite with the rest of our family. Our hope is that they will have a safer life over there until it is safe enough to move back to Gaza.

Your help is a debt we will never be able to repay: Thank you.