Dear friends, family and kind supporters,

I am reaching out to you with great urgency and great desperation. My name is Sami Nabhan, from Gaza City, Palestine. I have a small family of four. I am 20 years old and still in my third year at university. I have a younger brother, Mohammed, who is 17 years old and studies in high school. As for my father Wael, he works as a director of a telecommunications company in Gaza and is 46 years old. My mother Jasmin is a 38-year-old housewife, and I feel helpless as my family endures the hardships of the ongoing war in Gaza. The situation is becoming increasingly urgent, and I am asking for your help to raise funds for the emergency evacuation of my family from Gaza.

Fearing for our safety, and with Israel announcing ground entry into Rafah, my family lacked safe shelter and had to evacuate the Gaza Strip. This situation underscores the urgent need for our evacuation. My family was displaced to shelters allocated by the Israeli army to eight different places and at different times. We currently live in a small apartment in Rafah with 20 other relatives.

Our house in Gaza was completely destroyed, and my father lost his job and his only source of income due to the destruction of the company he works for.

Now our house is a pile of rubble

The same goes for our car

This forced displacement prevented the arrest of any of us, as happened with some families

In addition to this terrifying war, my family members kept getting sick over and over again without receiving the necessary medical treatment, and my father was injured by fragments of house glass as a result of the violent bombing next to the house in which we lived. newly. With our other relatives in Rafah. The main cause of the disease was the lack of food, water, and basic supplies. Throughout the war, which lasted five months, there was no natural food that could be provided in the market. Each family member has lost approximately ten to twenty kilograms.

I would like to emphasize once again that our source of income has completely stopped since the start of the war on Gaza, and there is no one to support us now, in addition to the significant increase in the prices of scarce foodstuffs, which have reached 400%. We really used up all our money.

After describing Gaza as “uninhabitable,” Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller announced a special program for Canadian citizens or permanent residents to be able to reunite with their families from Gaza. Fortunately, my father's aunt, Dima, holds Canadian citizenship and was ready to submit the papers. However, unfortunately, this program does not offer any financial support for newcomers, which means my family will have to pay all travel and settlement expenses themselves.

My wish was to complete my university studies like other university students, which was lost after my university was completely destroyed. My younger brother also wants to quickly join school before it is too late and he loses his academic year. My father's desire is to quickly take a job in communications in Canada to cover household expenses after the company he works for was completely destroyed in Gaza.

With your support and generosity, we aim to raise a target amount of 65,400 USD. The funds will be allocated for the following purposes:

1- Permits and transit fees required to leave Gaza on the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah ($5,100 per person). The total amount for crossing into Egypt is: $20,400.

2- Residence in Cairo for four months while waiting for immigration papers and admission to the university and school so as not to miss the academic year. This is estimated at 12,000 US dollars.

3- Airline tickets for four people from Cairo to Canada, estimated at 6,000 US dollars

4- Settlement expenses in Canada, including work insurance (including rent, winter clothes, health coverage, and living expenses), are estimated at 27,000 US dollars.

5- Covers GoFundMe transaction fees (2.9% + $0.30 per donation).

6- It covers income tax at a rate of 30%

7- Note that all the above expenses are in US dollars, while the donation amount is in Canadian dollars and the required amount in Canadian dollars is not equal to 0.723 of the US dollar.

Your support, whether big or small, will make a big difference in ensuring our safety. We are grateful for your compassion and generosity during this difficult time. Please share this with friends and colleagues and let's get my family to safety.

My family is just one of thousands of families facing similar crises and needing help. Any surplus funds beyond my family's needs will be directed towards helping others escape Gaza to safety.

With gratitude,

Sami Nabhan