Helping the Hassouna family leave the Gaza Strip

Hello Friends,

I am Mahmoud Kaskeen, a citizen of Australia. My friend Mohammad Hassouna contacted me to evacuate his family from the Gaza Strip, which consists of 6 members, his father, mother, and siblings: (Ahmed is 17 years old) - (Mahmoud is 13 years old) - (Tariq is 10 years old)

My friend, Muhammad Hassouna, is a student at one of the universities in Gaza, in the College of Information Technology, Department of Computer Information Systems in Gaza. They are currently in the Gaza Strip, living the most difficult days of their lives. Given its geographical location and the strict restrictions imposed by GoFundMe, I am honored to be able to launch the campaign to help them in this way.

I asked my friend Muhammad to write a story about what they were going through during the aggressive war on Gaza. This is what my friend wrote to me.

I know this seems like an impossible mission but I want to do my best to get my family out of the Gaza Strip and I hope for your help. This is not on behalf of the organization, but in a personal capacity. I decided to raise money through the gofundme website through my friend Mahmoud Kaskeen, who lives in Australia. He contacted me and decided to help me, thanking his efforts by creating a link through which he donated to evacuate my family from Gaza to Egypt. We did everything we could to try to evacuate our family from Gaza. Unfortunately, no action has been taken while our family members remain in great danger of losing their lives every second they spend in Gaza. We have already lost more than 150 of our family members in this genocide, our uncle, his sons and his grandchildren. Our grandmother who died due to lack of medicines and medical care. We don't want to lose our fathers, sisters and their children. Yesterday, there was an explosion near our family’s displacement site in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, and our father and mother were injured. Since then, we have been in a bad state, our life has stopped and we do not want to lose it. Our father also suffers from a heart disease and we do not want to lose him because we lost our grandmother due to the lack of medicines and critical treatments. You cannot imagine what it is like for us when we lose contact with our families, and when we hear news of men being executed on the spot in their homes in front of their mothers and wives, our hearts sink. Our entire family lost their homes and everything as you can see in the pictures linked below. Our family home that had held memories for 35 years was gone

With the comfort and joy you gave us. When we look at pictures of our home, we don't recognize one place. Our favorite sites have been reduced to rubble. We also grew up and spent our childhood in Gaza. Our families have been displaced to the south and are living in tents with no access to clean water, little food, no medical assistance or proper toilets. Not only do they face the threat of bombs, but they also face the threat of illness and disease. We are desperately trying to secure safe passage for my family to Egypt, where they can find temporary shelter and safety away from death.

We live in constant worry about their lives and safety, our sleep has suffered. Our mental health has suffered.

But we feel embarrassed to talk about our suffering when the people we love most live in the conditions they do. Your contributions, no matter how small, will save their lives so they can evacuate to safety, because the only way out of Gaza now is through the Rafah crossing, which requires a fee of 5000$ per adult and 2500$ per child. Our family consists of 3 adults and 3 children. Your contributions will help fund the following:

1. 34,500$ for permits and crossing fees: The bulk of the funds allocated for this campaign will be used to cover expenses associated with obtaining permits to leave Gaza and the crossing fees required at the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah.

2. 20,000$ for immediate relief: This portion will be used to provide immediate assistance to our family when they find their way to safety. It will cover the costs of accommodation, food and other necessities for their six-month stay in Egypt, where they are now facing an existential crisis due to job losses and the absence of their previous sources of income.

My family and I live in this tent in the extreme cold in Rafah, south of Gaza City

Your contributions will be a lifeline enabling them to escape death. While we try to raise these funds in order to provide some hope and immediate relief to our families, we continue to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and a humanitarian crisis plan to resolve the crisis. in Gaza

Take the time to share your fundraiser on social media and through word of mouth to reach as many people as possible. This may be a big goal, but we believe the community can rise to the occasion

Your support gives us hope.️