Help Save Disability Activist Mohammed Abu Kumeil in Gaza

Team fundraiser

Dr Yasmin Snounu and 2 others are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We, a group of academics, disability scholars, and advocates— Dr. Yasmin Snounu (based in Windsor, Canada), Ousmane Cisse (based in Boston, MA), and Marina Salman (based in Chicago, U.S.)— are reaching out to ask for your generous support for our close friend with disability Activist Mohammed Abu Kumeil. Mohammed is 35 years old living in Gaza under the Israeli genocide. Mohammed was born with a physical disability and has dedicated his life to promoting disability awareness and justice in Palestine.

You can access Mohammed's Facebook and advocacy activities here https://www.facebook.com/mohammad.abukmail/photos

Mohamed at the graduation ceremony to receive his degree (Gaza)

Amidst the genocidal and catastrophic living conditions that Mohammed and other people with disabilities go through while they take their breaths with difficulty for the last six months of genocide in Gaza, Mohammed’s family home in northern Gaza was destroyed in a bombing, causing him to lose his electric wheelchair. He now relies on a manual wheelchair and has been displaced multiple times, struggling to find safe shelter. Mohammed faces daily hardships including a lack of food, water, and medical care.

Mohammed's home picture

Mohammed's sleeping conditions are dire; he often sleeps on the floor or in his wheelchair, causing significant pain and discomfort. He lacks access to necessary medications and basic amenities due to the destruction of infrastructure by Israel, which further exacerbates his challenges.

Mohammed is now living his worst nightmare as he experienced displacement four times where he was running for his life; sometimes he was given a corner in a tent with friends, and other times staying with friends in their partially bombed homes. Mohammed stays without food not only because of lack of food but he chooses not to eat for days so he does not need to go to a bathroom as he relies on friends to carry him to whatever available option for toilet usage. Depending on where he is, most of the time there is no toilet at all, and he needs to be lifted out of his manual wheelchair to relieve himself in no viable bathrooms. Mohammed told us: “At the beginning of the genocide, I would fast for a couple of days, so I am not obligated to seek a bathroom. Now food is scarcer.”

Mohammed's living room

Mohammed lost the medical bed he sleeps on, along with his electric chair in the bombing of his family house. Mohammed has been sleeping either on the floor or in his wheelchair and constantly complaining about his back. He says: “When I get to sleep amidst the continuous Israeli bombardment and displacement, I feel tremendous pain through my body, I now have ulcers, and my back feels like it is broken to a million pieces. I lost all senses of the little comfort I had in life. There are no medications and no painkillers. The lack of medication makes any rare and small available amounts of medication extremely expensive and impossibly affordable.”

The shelters Mohammed sought during his agonizing displacement journey are suffering from diseases, and there are thousands of displaced people in the same place as Mohammed. Many other displaced people would harass Mohammed and use offensive language when talking with him. Mohammed shared: “Many times when I was at a school shelter, I would wait in line for hours before I could have access to a bathroom.”

Mohammed at a friend's home unable to use the bathroom

Mohammed also shared: “There is no viable life here, no food, no water, no clothing, I have been wearing the same clothes for months now and it is not easy to wash the clothes. I sometimes, when I manage to get some water from friends, wash my clothes during the night and wait until the second day to wear them again. All of this besides the scarcity of the food and if a little bit of food is available, it is extremely expensive and unaffordable.”

Mohammed's home destroyed

To this moment, no organization has paid any attention to the needs of physically disabled Palestinians in Gaza; the lack of tools, accessible assistive devices, and adult diapers are some of the pressing issues that need to be addressed urgently.

Our dear friend Mohammed Abu Kumeil, born with physical disability due to lack of oxygen, relies on his wheelchair to manage life in Gaza. However, for the past six months, Mohammed has never been able to move within any area in Gaza due to continuous killing by Israel, and destruction of the infrastructure (hospitals, homes, universities, etc.). Mohammed has been going through myriads of obstacles since he was born. He has been facing lots of struggles living in Gaza under Israeli Apartheid and the siege imposed on Gaza since 2006.

Mohammed during his displacement journey

We have known Mohammed as a well-educated and inspiring activist who devoted his life to raising awareness about disability and justice, by visiting schools and talking to students, as well as organizations. He has a BA in Banking and Financing and a Professional Diploma in Management and Civil Society Organizations. He has struggled all his life to be included and to be offered a job due to prejudice and Israeli colonialism in Gaza.

Mohammed at his graduation

Mohammed has missed out on multiple opportunities to advance his career primarily due to Israel’s military occupation. For example, in 2022, Mohammed was invited to conduct disability-inclusive training for a major organization in Egypt. This opportunity did not only serve as a major break for Mohammed in his professional career, but it would have given him a break from his personal life living in Gaza and could see how the rest of the world is living, who is disabled and under Israeli occupation. Unfortunately, Mohammed was not given a permit to leave Gaza. Mohammed lost that opportunity and his hope of creating a better world for his people.

Life under Israeli colonialism provides little to no chance of succeeding for any Palestinian, let alone what life looks like for a disabled Palestinian. Not only has the military occupation, settler violence in the West Bank and the Gaza genocide explicitly violated international humanitarian law but it also infringed the UN’s Convention Rights on Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

We are calling on the entire international community and, most importantly, the global disability community, to raise awareness of the adverse conditions that caused the maiming of the Palestinian body and geography, as well as the long-term ramifications that this occupation and genocide have had on Palestinians with physical, developmental, and psychiatric disabilities and their families. The number of people sustaining permanent injuries and disabilities, due to the constant, indiscriminate bombardment, will soon surpass 80,000 and we are calling on United States officials, including US Senator Tammy Duckworth, to firmly call for a permanent ceasefire and preserve the health, and safety and humanity that is left in Gaza and the West Bank.

At this crucial time in our history, we seek your generous donations so we can help Mohammed and other friends with disabilities provide basic needs of shelter, food, medication, and possible travel expenses to evacuate to safety.

Below is an outline of where your donations are going to be spent. We greatly appreciate your kind generosity and prayers as we continue to do our best to assist and advocate on behalf of Palestine’s disability community.

1. Shelter, medicine, food, water, transportation, basic needs

2. Travel to safety (Egypt)-Fees, accommodations, Health services, and transportation.

3. Electric wheelchairs and medical beds

4. Assistive devices and accommodations as they emerge.

If you are an individual, company, or organization who is looking to partner with us in providing aid and/or advocacy, please contact us at [email redacted] [email redacted] and [email redacted]