My name is Julie and I am from the UK. This GFM is for my friend Sondos, and her family from occupied Gaza, Palestine. Keep reading to learn about my friend and her beautiful family. Each member of her family is talented, intelligent, and has dreams they hope to achieve. Please read from Sondos about herself and her family, and check updates to understand the current conditions Sondos and her family are suffering from.

READ FROM SONDOS HERE:

Hello, my name is Sondos Al-Nairab. I am 25 years old. I am a girl from Gaza. I live with my beautiful family, but danger is chasing me and my family because of the war. The infrastructure in Gaza collapsed, and we were forced to flee our home and move into a tent without food or shelter for my family.

This led to the lack of financial support to support us, and my father struggles with diabetes, which in light of these bad conditions has become very difficult to provide him with insulin treatment.

This is how Sondos stores the insulin in summer. Inside an empty water bottle within their water container to try to keep it calm in their exceedingly high temperatures in their tent

My little brother, who is just a teenager, has begun selling roses to provide for a few of our needs due to financial vulnerability exasperated by this war. Since our displacement to the tents, my little brother received a head injury due to one of the bombings and had to have 10 stitches because of the heavy bleeding. He was very scared and he has been very brave. Here is his account of what happened:

"My brother and I were walking near Rafah mo's. A tent was targeted next to us, then the shrapnel and stones seemed to fly on us. Then I woke up in the hospital and my head was sewn because of so much blood. A big brother Mohammed was fine, he took me to the hospital."

Although I graduated from the College of Law, I am unable to provide for my family’s needs. The war destroyed all of the jobs in my field. However, I am a girl with a talent for drawing and fine arts.

This artwork is by Sondos

My older sister, Tasneem, who is 26 years old, is a graduate of social services, and my sister, Deema, who is 21 years old, studies interior design and engineering. She graduated with a GPA of 98.9/100 and was ranked 4th in her high school.

Deema's certificates from her high school education

My younger sister, Yomna who is 18, is studying graphic design. She is also a talented artist with a beautiful eye for the arts. Despite our talents and hopes, our dreams and the futures are being violently buried in Gaza.

This artwork is by Yomna

Due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, death is slowly approaching us. I cannot imagine losing anyone from my family. We have done nothing except that we want to live in peace. Leaving our home is not a decision we take lightly, but it has become a matter of survival.

We humbly appeal for your generosity to help me fund our evacuation from Gaza and to help me protect my family from death before it is too late. Your support, no matter how small, will make a big difference for me and my family.

From the bottom of my heart, I express my sincere gratitude for any assistance that can be provided to me. Thank you for your kindness and sympathy with me during these difficult times.

Update:

Since the ground invasion of Rafah, Sondos and her family have packed their bags again and left the home they were staying at in Rafah. They have now been displaced to tents. They are struggling to obtain water and food, due to the displacement and closing of the crossing which prevents aid and resources from being available. The prices are high and sanitary conditions of displacement are poor. The tents become extremely hot in the summer due to the heat, and they are not protected from the bugs and poor sanitary conditions and the diseases that come with this. In the winter it becomes very cold in the tents and there is a lot of flooding from the rain. Due to this the tent has to be repaired very often. Sondos and her family are subjected to these conditions and are suffering greatly from it.

Please continue to amplify her campaign and voice. You can follow her on instagram to get updates, but please remember their internet access is limited, so it is extra important we continue to share her campaign to get it to as many people as possible to help provide support.

Thank you all for using for voice to share Sondos and her family's story.

For transparency: All funds will be transferred to Sondos directly. Receipts of donation are always available upon request.