Ismail and Family Fleeing the Gaza War

Updated Goal: 9/17/2024 Ismail anticipates needing some help with living expenses when he first arrives in Cairo. He has lost everything and Egypt is not excited about giving jobs to arriving Palestinians. If you want to help Ismail and his family get established, please give here and I will pass the funds along. Blessings to each one that gives!

-Martin

Original Post:

Let me introduce you to Ismail and his family. They are in Gaza and need help.

Hi, I'm Martin Brooks. My friend Ismail and his family of eight are trapped in Rafah, Gaza. I'm raising funds to help them escape to Egypt.

I first met Ismail while in graduate school in Turkish Cyprus. We were classmates at Near East University. One evening, Susan, Hannah, and I were invited to Ismail's apartment for supper. He and his roommates were grilling kabobs on their balcony. When I was first introduced to Ismail, I misheard his name as “Smile.” It made sense as a nickname because he was gregarious and always seemed to be smiling. I thought "Smile" was his nickname. He and his friends from Gaza have been to my house for meals and Christmas. We have played Jenga together and had many long conversations about faith and politics. He returned to Gaza to be with his family and because he hoped to make a difference through his teaching. It grieves me now to see the pain in his eyes.

Trying to avoid the violence and keep his family safe, he has already been displaced six times. His house has been destroyed, so he is living in a tent. His neighbors are dead. His work as an English professor has stopped. He fears the next bombing or raid may mean death for himself or his family.

We have been communicating through Facebook Messenger when he has an internet connection. Ismail wrote:

"I want to evacuate Gaza to Egypt. We are afraid of being killed due to the ongoing indiscriminate shelling and mass killing every day. Just last night. there was heavy shelling."

"Martin, we have been displaced to six different places so far, and that is because no place is safe, and F16s don't stop shelling and killing indiscriminately. All I want is to feel that my family is safe. I don't look for or seek money."

He tried to set up a GoFundMe but could not from Gaza. He asked me to set up a GoFundMe to get his family out of Gaza. Here is what he wrote to you.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Ismail Abu Hain, aged 47 and a married man with six kids: two boys and four girls. I used to live at Alzaitoun Neighborhood, and I’m currently working as an English lecturer at Al-Aqsa University of Gaza. I hope I can collect my thoughts and be able to put my thoughts into words as I’m so devastated.

Just before the onset of the escalation on Gaza, on October 7, I was getting myself ready to go to my first lecture due to start at 8:00 am. When I heard about happened, I rushed frantically to fetch my kids from school.

During the first night, my family and I were scared to death, and we were locked in the house for an entire week, especially after my whole area was exposed to indiscriminate airstrikes. We were locked in the apartment for an entire week. As the war raged on, we had to evacuate to my sister’s home, at Al-Shujaeia Neighborhood. We spent no more than three nights until the whole area was bombed into oblivion. I decided, once again, to take myself and my family somewhere predictably safer as it was around Al-Quds Hospital at Tal-Alhawa Area in Gaza. We languished there for eight never-ending nights, the last two were the toughest because the contiguous TalAlhawa Towers were also bombed in Israeli airstrikes, and we were ordered to evacuate. In the middle of the night, under shockingly fierce airstrikes and unstoppable artillery shells, we headed aimlessly for The South, seeking refuge. I followed the masses of people to Al-Aqsa University of Southern Gaza, where I’m working. I stayed there for three months, during which we were subject to sporadic airstrikes that ended in an all-out incursion into the west of Khanyounis City. Meanwhile, the Israeli tanks encircled the area and killed twenty-two people and university officials, including some relatives of mine. Then, we had to flock to Al-Fukhari, an area between Khanyounis and Rafah, where I’m staying along with thousands of refugees now.

In a nutshell, the enormity of the suffering defies description: no safe water, no clean toilets, no healthy food, overcrowded place and unfit for human habitation, biting cold, infections everywhere especially skin diseases and Hepatitis A, which a child of mine caught, not to mention the unending airstrikes all day and night long that might take any of my family lives.

I was bound and determined to stay in Gaza, no matter what, but now I admit to the fact that can’t. I’m defeated, unable to resist, lost in thoughts, hesitant, failing to disguise my anxiety in front of my wife and kids, startled at every sound, you name it.

I’m a dignified academic, previously well-off, but the war took away everything, my finances, my property, my health and most importantly my dignity. I’m in a lot of pain narrating my unbearable suffering. I never imagined myself in a deplorable situation like this asking people to help me out, and I’ve always preached self-reliance to my children and my students, but I don’t know how things have come to this.

Last but not least, my family have always asked me to ask people for help to relieve the effects of the trauma that has befallen us, but I always rejected outright. It is a pang of indignity to do so, and you feel like a beggar, especially in light of the yawning gap between what I was and what I am right now. I painfully own up to that, but I eventually find it incumbent upon me to do so, not for me personally or even my wife, but rather for my poor kids who can no longer bear the brunt of the war.

My family and I desperately need to leave Gaza for Egypt, but it cost too much. It costs 5000 dollars each adult, and 2500 dollars each minor. We are a family of four adults and four minors, 30000 dollars in total. I can scratch a living, but I can’t cover the payment of travel to Egypt, So I plead with you to help me with the payment to Egypt as my life, my wife’s, and my kids’ are in jeopardy. The money will go solely for this purpose.

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Is it risky? Sure. Are there any guarantees the “handlers” can deliver? Not really. I have heard success stories from three different sources, but that does not mean it will work for Ismail and his family. But Ismail is desperate. One story of success is a thread of hope that helps him survive another day.

This is not about being pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian or who is to blame for the current conditions. While people have all of those debates, my friend is in danger. I am pro-Ismail, a man I know. I am for living and thriving. I trust Ismail. I want to help, and we are giving you this opportunity to make a difference, at least for one family.

As I write this, World Central Kitchen Aid workers have just been killed delivering food. 32,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed. Much of the infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed. Hospitals have been destroyed, hepatitis is spreading, and famine is imminent. Aid workers and the press are pulling out while the Palestinians have been told to go south to Rafah. My friend Ismail has done all he can to protect his family. I've written to our elected officials and received back stale form letters that made it clear no one read what I had said. It's so exasperating. Official channels seem gridlocked in politics. Meanwhile, people are dying.

We can't get everyone out of Gaza, but we can potentially help Ismail and his family. Would you consider giving to save the lives of this one family?

If you have questions, please contact me. I have photos of us together in Cyprus, sharing meals and playing Jenga. This is a real man with a real family. He needs our help.

Thank you for giving however much you can.