Dear friends and community members,

My name is Fadi Ladaa and I am supporting my cousin, Elias Fashho, to launch this fundraiser to help him and his family escape death due to the devastating situation in Gaza. My Aunt Samira Fashho (Elias’ mother), is my father’s sister.

I'm starting this fundraiser on behalf of them because I'm based in the USA and I can access this platform and afterwards I will transfer the funds to them.

Please read Elias’s story and join in supporting their survival and starting their lives over.

WHO WE ARE

We are a small Christian family from Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine. Elias a 35-year-old father, Dalia a 27-year-old mother, Issa a 5-year-old son, Adam an 18-month-old baby, Issa a 72-year-old grandfather and Samira a 66-year-old grandmother.

BACKGROUND

On Sep 30th, 2023, Elias’ son Issa was celebrating his 5th birthday on the beach of Gaza city. A very smart and happy child that has just begun to see life and go to school, he has nothing in mind other than being happy playing with his little baby brother, Adam, and playing with his toys.

(Video of Issa's birthday on the beach 0-56 seconds)

On Oct 7th, 2023 the war started on Gaza and for a whole week, in a daily bases, we were evacuating from one place to another because we were receiving phone calls to evacuate the place we were in. In that week we evacuated more than 10 times back and forth but there is no safe place to go.

On Oct 13th, 2023 we decided to take the church, the Church of Saint Porphyrios, as a shelter after we realized that there is no other place to go to, we said to ourselves: “God is our savior, let’s go to his place and be protected by him”. Many other families thought the same and all came to the church as our last refuge.

IMPACT OF THE WAR ON US

On Oct 19, 2023 the building that we were staying in, which is one of the church’s buildings, was targeted by an Israeli air strike while we were inside, nearly a hundred persons were inside, living that moment was one of the toughest things to endure, in a moment the floor went up and down and side to side then all the building fell on us.

All the people were crying for help and they were concerned for the safety of their family members but nobody could see a way out. Adam, my 18-month-old baby boy, was screaming between my arms as loud as he can, not knowing what was happening. Till now, he covers his ears with his hands trying to go to sleep while air strikes and gun fire go off around the church.

With a miracle, a small opening in the wall appeared and we started seeping through it one by one. Thank God that all my family members escaped death that night, but 18 souls were lost in that tragedy.

We couldn’t sleep that night for the terror we were feeling, the only place that we thought to be safe, was not.

(Video and photos of the church's building that was targeted by that airstrike @ 2 minutes)

Fast forward to now, 157 days later, 157 days of living hell that we never thought we’d witness or experience. Gaza city is completely destroyed; streets, schools, hospitals, electricity networks, telecommunications networks and all means of life were destroyed.

We lost our houses and all our belongings during this war, our family house was totally destroyed along side with the neighborhood and all the houses there. My apartment that we've spent over $120,000 on to become our dream home is now severely damaged and is not inhabitable.

(Video of the destroyed family house @ 57 seconds-2 minutes)

I'm heartbroken to say that we have been struggling to live till this moment only for a hope that one day we get out of this living hell with our lives, we don't want anything else.

HOW YOUR DONATION WILL HELP US

We have received approval for tourist visa applications to Australia and it is now the only way for us to escape. Unfortunately, no humanitarian crisis fund is available to cover the financial costs and the financial cost is enormous!

We are 6 family members as I mentioned above and the estimated costs we are trying to fundraise, per person, include:

$192 - visa application fees

$300 - passport fees

$7000 - Rafah visa crossing

$2400 - flight ticket

Total estimated cost before arriving to Australia is around 10,000$ per Adult and 50,000$ for all 6 family members.

Additionally we will not be permitted to work under the tourist visa and we need to cover living expenses which is estimated by 1,000$ per week.

THANK YOU

Every minute counts while we are trapped in this war and every bit of donation could be the difference between life and death.

We thank you for your kind and generous donations. Your support will bring hope back to us and with your help we will be able to start over and rebuild our lives again.

Thank you again,

Elias & Family

Thank you for your help and prayers!

Fadi Ladaa