Help Support Family In Gaza With 5 Small Children

This fundraiser is for the Rajila Family. They are a Palestinian family of 10 including 5 small children ranging in ages from under 5 years old to a baby. They also have with them two elderly parents including a mother/grandmother with cancer. The family have become close friends of ours, and we communicate on a near day to day basis.

*Since starting this fundraiser, their group has grown in size to include some of their extended family and now includes more women and TWO newborn babies. (14 people in total)

They now have 3 babies with them under the age of 1.

This family are nonviolent citizens who have been displaced since the early days of this war when their home and town were bombed and destroyed. They have lost not just their only known home, but many family and friends.

Since the end of October, when the Internet has been working, we have been video-calling with them and getting regular updates on their increasingly worsening situation & have gotten to know them very well.

They have been displaced multiple times going in-between areas experiencing heavy bombardment and open combat for sustained amounts of time with children in tow. Since starting this gofundme one of the men sustained a bullet wound that requires treatment. When speaking with him, he has shared the words below about their lives:

Life in Gaza before the war was difficult. We were under a major siege. The electricity was cut off every day for 18 hours. But at least the prices were not as high as today. Barely anyone in Gaza can afford to pay to eat now.

Now in the war, the electricity has been entirely cut off for over a 100 days. There is no electricity at all where we are. The situation is very, very bad. We drink polluted water from the environment. There is the spread of epidemics and diseases from this war. There are no hospitals or medicine.

Here, we have seen constantly during the war very, very violent bombing. Here, the martyrs, we meet them on the roads. Children, women, men, civilians. No one can bring them. Here, there is bombing everywhere.

We fled to the southern Mawasi area. It is near the sea and now it is the winter. The weather is very cold and extremely harsh with heavy rains. People have no shelter and no way to stay warm. We struggle to find wood to cook with or stay warm. There is no fuel available to anyone and even firewood is scarce and needs to be paid for.

The children are always afraid.

Everyone is afraid of the intensity of the violent bombing.

My mother has cancer in her eyes and is in a lot of pain and very fatigued. She needs medication we cannot afford or find. She cannot do much. She is not able to make food or anything like that. It is extremely hard for my mother to keep away from the smoke rising from the bombing. The smoke from the bombs makes her condition much worse.

The white phosphorus that is being thrown at us all is a major reason for the death of people. It makes us all very sick but especially an elderly person already with cancer.

I do not know what the long-term impacts will be to the children from living in these conditions.

My brother was killed by Israel, and most of my family are displaced to other parts of Gaza. They have no shelter or cloth to protect them from the elements. I am constantly worried about my family who is not with me. And for the family that is with me, I am extremely worried about us all being able to be fed and be safe. We go many days without eating sometimes and have no way to gain any income in this situation.

We are disconnected from everything and constantly under the threat of death every day.

This family is relying directly on donations to procure essentials for life. All of them are in varying stages of preventable sicknesses and deteriorating health.

Despite Al-Mawasi being where Israel has been directing civilians to go, there are no aid organizations willing or able to to take on delivering any kind of aid to Al-Mawasi. In Al-Mawasi, there are even fewer resources available than there were when they were staying in an active combat zone. There is a black market that has sprung up with some people selling resources, but essential items are 15-20x the pre-war cost if they are even available.

Even though Al Mawasi had been declared a "safe zone" for Palestinian civilians by Israel, they are seeing more aggressive bombing in this area now with some families being entirely wiped out.

From The BBC,

"Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of land by the Mediterranean Sea. It has few buildings and largely consists of sandy dunes and agricultural land. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the plan for al-Mawasi was "a recipe for disaster".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Attempting to cram so many people into such a small area with such little infrastructure or services will significantly increase risks to health for people who are already on the brink."

The United Nations also has wider concerns about the plan. "The situation in Gaza is catastrophic; no one and no place is safe," Andrea de Domenico, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) told the BBC. "Safe zones declared unilaterally cannot protect civilians", he added. "

From The Times of Israel, "Palestinian aid groups say Israel-designated safe zone in Gaza offers little relief. UNRWA and other organizations say Al-Mawasi area not fit for purpose and are not providing services there; Israel blames UN for poor conditions."

Funds contributed to this gofundme will go directly to pay for the family's ongoing survival needs of:

-clean water

-food

-medications and medical care

-fabric, clothing, blankets, materials to stay warm over the winter.

Any funds possibly left over would go towards building some sort of life when the war ends.

They estimate at this point, with the high cost of living due to the lack of aid, scarce resources and high demands, that it costs at least $3000 US minimum for them to be able to sustain survival costs in Gaza per month inclusive of the high costs of supplies for the babies.

It is a big number, but with 14 in their group that is around $7 US per day or $9.50 CAD a day . Given what they are living through, it's not an extravagant amount of money, but it is still a very high amount to fundraise every month, for as long as this war could possibly go on and likely even longer until adequate aid is coming in.

This family are peaceful people who lived working on the land before the war and they do not know where they will end up yet after the war. They have expressed interest in wanting to come to Canada, which would only be possible through private sponsorship unless/until Canada opens up the border to wider refugees from Palestine. Wherever they end up, they will require a lot of support to help rebuild their lives.

Being from Gaza, this family has lived through MANY wars, with this one being the scariest and most extreme. Many reputable agencies cite the situation of Palestinian civilians as extremely dire and disastrous.

This family has already lost so much and are still experiencing ongoing unending traumas. They only want to survive this war and have a life to look forward to after.

Any and all contributions are urgently needed, highly appreciated and go directly to this family who are simply trying to survive these unimaginable circumstances.

If you are unable to donate, help in sharing this campaign within your own communities and networks would also be amazing.

We are also very open to hearing from folks who might know of bigger organizations to approach in helping with fundraising or assisting in the refugee process for when the war is over.

We will be managing the funds for the family, and sending them outside of GoFundMe, as there is no way to do it directly.

Video below is of the family home they have lost: