Help Mona & Her Family Evacuate Gaza

Friends and Colleagues of Mona is organizing this fundraiser.

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We are a collective of feminist scholars and friends who are raising funds for our friend and colleague Mona Ameen, a displaced Palestinian feminist scholar in Gaza.

Originally from Beit Hanoun, a city in the northeast of the Gaza strip, Mona and her family were displaced following the bombing of their home by Israeli occupation forces in the first days of the genocide. Their entire neighborhood was flattened. They fled to Sheikh Radwan, a neighborhood in Gaza City, until that too became too dangerous. As Israeli air strikes targeted neighboring buildings, Mona and her brother, whose leg was amputated after suffering an air strike during the 2014 Israeli aggression on Gaza, fled by foot to the southern city of Rafah. Their family joined them days later, and they were reunited in a school, where they are currently sheltering along with hundreds of other displaced families.

The conditions for displaced Palestinians in Rafah today are harrowing. Not only do they have little access to food, water, hygienic products, and other essentials, but overcrowded conditions, and the total lack of sanitation and medical care has made life unsustainable.

The family's presence at an UNRWA school does not mean they are safe from Israeli military violence, either: on February 11th, UNRWA reported that 298 of its facilities had been attacked since the beginning of the war, including schools housing the displaced. During the attacks on UNRWA shelters, at least 395 displaced people were killed, and at least 1,379 injured.

Mona and her family, a total of 10 people, which includes her mother, father, siblings, niece and nephews (children ages 15, 12, 7, and 5 years old), have made the painful decision to attempt to flee Gaza temporarily. We are raising funds to help them find safe passage to Egypt.

Mona is a young feminist scholar who was researching the Palestinian women’s movement and women’s social activism across Palestinian diasporas when she was displaced. She was a student of Refaat al-Areer, a Palestinian writer and poet who was murdered last month by Israeli occupation forces. She dreams of one day pursuing her Ph.D., rebuilding her home in Gaza and being a storyteller, scholar, teacher, and mentor to the next generation of Palestinian youth.

You can learn more about her story in a recent article “Ghassa” or "Love in a Time of Genocide."

Please help us raise the funds necessary to help Mona and her family survive this genocidal war and rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.

See below for pictures & more information about the family's experience.

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On December 24, 2023, Mona shared the following pictures of her 7 year old nephew, Yamen:

With these pictures, she shared the following story:

"This is my 7-year-old nephew, Yamen, a cat lover. He heard his mother speaking on the phone saying: 'Are you serious Mariam is gone?'

Mariam is Yamen’s friend since kindergarten. She was hit by shrapnel dispersed by the explosion of a missile on Rafah border and torn into pieces. Her family was able to collect only her leg.

Yamen was shocked by hearing Mariam’s name. 'Which Mariam?' he asked, 'the one who was living next door to us?...the one I played with?' 'How did they kill her? Did she bleed when shrapnel hit her? Did she feel any pain?' Yamen asked his mom frightfully. Yamen sobbed when he heard the news: 'I want Mariam now, I want to play with her…'

Ultimately, my sister was able to convince him that Mariam is in a better and safer place, away from war, hardships and the daily struggles we face.

Every day Yamen asks his mom to see Mariam’s picture to kiss her and tell her 'Allah hrhamek ya sahbty…may God have mercy on you my friend.'

The next day, he told his mom: 'I will buy a bird and name it Mariam.'"

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The ruins of Mona and her family’s home in Beit Hanoun, bombed and leveled by an Israeli air strike in October, 2023: