Help my Gaza family in their quest for life

Dear compassionate friends,

I am reaching out to you, fellow humans, at this very difficult time to request your compassionate support to enable my loved ones to rebuild their home in war-torn Gaza or seek evacuation and a new life abroad if chances for safety and rehabilitation became slim.

My trapped family

I speak with agony in the name of my parents, my brother’s family of four, and my sister family of five. They are trapped in south Gaza with no hope of returning to their normal lives in north Gaza, for over four months now.

My father has been taken by IDF from north Gaza and subjected to a week-long detention incommunicado, to be finally released to Rafah. I had a week of nightmares about his wellbeing in detention, given his heart disease and frailty, and frightening news about those being detained.

My mother and my brother’s family, being separated from my father, were forced to go on a night journey south, crossing 15 km on foot. They luckily found shelter after knocking the first door.

I am particularly terrified about my mother’s emotional health. My heart broke recently to hear about her mental breakdown, from the constant anxiety and lack of any safety or stability. Early on this conflict, she lost her elder brother, my uncle Rushdi, as he got sniped twice while sheltering in a school in west Gaza city, before facing the fate of displacement herself by the same army.

I only spoke to her once since she was forced south, for a couple of minutes, to find her only worried about my sister, Yosra, who, with her five-member family, once fled to Khan Younis and fled twice from it to Rafah, before returning again. The continuing war has left her with a deep scar, like all bereaved Gaza mothers.

The material damage

The story of collective displacement is hard to even begin to understand, including that of my family’s. Our home got partly destroyed early on the conflict. The artillery shells were pounded on my neighborhood, east Gaza City, forcing my family to take refuge at first in my father’s minimarket, later in my brother’s in-laws’ home, in my paternal aunt’s, and finally, upon IDF invasion deep in Gaza City, in Deir al-Balah, to the south of the Strip.

Our home was not made of mere stones and sand, to be lamented. It’s not my father’s life savings over 20 years of working abroad, spent on our home, that are to be foremost regretted about. It’s the sweet memories that this place brings to every one of us. The sense of home. From this home we celebrated birthdays, barbecues, baby showers, the gatherings of nieces and nephews to watch TV cartoons, the joy of a family breakfast on Fridays, the jubilation for top school results and the delicious cakes grandmother makes to them on Tuesdays, when my sister’s visits.

Later on, my father’s food shop and only source of living for 25 years, got collaterally damaged as a three-level mosque opposite to it got carpet bombed.

From this small store, my father fought the adversity of blockade to raise his five children and bring them closer to their independence and ambitions. He did that with all merit. From this store, where all his children served, my father taught us how to be self-reliant and worked hard so his children can study at university and succeed. But from this store also, tens of thousands of poor people benefited from internationally funded food baskets through Oxfam and WFP. The war has shattered all of that.

My father, the human

Whenever I try to figure out what my father went through during his lifetime, I only think of sacrifice and love for his family and community and I think of survival under intense adversity. Imagine being born in Gaza in 1952, just four years after mass Palestinian displacement and dispossession (Nakba), then experiencing the 1967 war, working in Israel in summer time to afford university fees in Egypt, then spending the best years in your life in the Gulf, just to give back to your family and start your own, and then having to survive the Second Gulf war in 1990 and flee with kids to besieged Iraq, and then trying to build a new life in semi-autonomous Gaza from 1995 onwards, before losing everything in 2024 to war again!

During the past 15 years, having delivered for his kids and shaped them into successful professionals and parents themselves, my father has been actively volunteering in a local charity to better the lives of those in need and draw a smile on the faces of children in our community.

A bid for hope, for a fresh start

I lived my entire school and college years in Gaza and I know very well what it is like to live under a crippling siege and through constant war. It’s a harsh experience that no father would want to let on his beloved. 9 years ago, I graduated from a UK university, and took a hard decision to seek a life away from Gaza conflicts, having witnessed three in 2008, 2012, and 2014. However, it has always been painful to think about those of my family left behind and more so to imagine a more deadly and prolonged war like the current one.

Please help us secure a safe home or passage for my dear family, away from the woes of war. Help my bright nieces Mariam, 11, Tala, 9, Layal, 8, and the little Deima, 4, get a second chance at living and making an impact in this world. Help Nizar, 12, and Ahmed, 9, be future doctors, like their father, to save lives, or help them just be free from the shackles of death. Your contribution will sow hope for a better tomorrow; will allow for new paths for life and success.

Your precious donations

Knowing about my father’s personal and social rootedness in Gaza, soliciting a yes from him about the possibility of leaving his town was a no-starter at first. Evacuation was never on the table for him. My father always felt positive about the chances of peace and stability in Gaza. He had a successful accounting career in Kuwait and witnessed the flourishing economy there in his thirties and forties, and always wanted Gaza to see prosperity. But, having just seen humiliation in Israeli detention, and feeling anxious about further displacement, let alone my mother and brother’s family, including his pregnant wife, my father leaned towards the idea.

Given the volatile situation, the kind support raised in this campaign will be used in one of two ways: rebuild our home and shop in Gaza if on the short term a ceasefire has been achieved and displaced people were allowed to return to north Gaza, or to resettle the family abroad, if they were left with no other option to be safe, and start a new life chapter for my parents, and my sister and my brother’s families, including seven nieces and nephews.

Just like my father helped his children, including myself, lead safe and successful lives, I seek, with other humans like you, to give back and get the support my family needs to be safe themselves and do good to others, either at home or abroad. Your little support means the world to us at this time of extreme duress.

Here is a breakdown of what your donations will cover:

We seek $55,000 to secure the safe passage of 6 adults and 7 children outside of Gaza or repair our house and minimarket to sustain their life in Gaza.

To secure a safe exit out of Gaza, through the Rafah crossing, each family member has to pay $5k for Hala Travel Agents to facilitate their exit to Egypt (and $2.5k for children under the age of 16). These are my parents, my sister’s family (2 adults and 4 children), and my brother’s family (2 adults and 3 children).

In the first stage, I am aiming to evacuate, accommodate and sustain one household (7 members) to Egypt for the cost of $27,500 and then the other household (6 members) for $20,000. As two earning brothers (two IT engineers and one translator) living abroad, we will later cover all expenses related to moving and settling in a third country, by securing new travel documents, visas, flight tickets, accommodation, healthcare and school fees.

In case of a ceasefire being achieved in the short term, the donations raised will go towards supporting the resilience of my family in Gaza (three households), repairing our destroyed family homes and our business, the only source of living for the family.

Come together to help my family escape the hardships of war, offering them a chance to start anew. Together, we can shine a light during our toughest times, kindling hope for a brighter future. Every contribution, big or small, not only paves the way for a safer tomorrow for my family but also lays the groundwork for repairing and rebuilding our home once peace returns.

We are profoundly grateful for your generosity and pray for boundless blessings upon you.

Thank you for being the beacon of hope my family desperately needs.