Hello - my name is Aaron and I am a Canadian citizen invested in the care of those being affected by the famine in Gaza.

I am starting this fundraiser on behalf of Mahmoud and his family. Mahmoud lost his home and his barber shop and has been displaced along with his family.

I will be using internationaloney transfers to deliver the funds to a Bank of Palestine account.

Here is a message from Mahmoud's wife, Israa.

"I am Israa, married and 32 years old. My husband, Mahmoud Abu Asaker, is 35 years old. One year...and we have 3 children: Muhammad, 9 years old, Maryam, 6 years old, and Adam, 3 years old. My family, consisting of 5 members and a beautiful cat named Katie, lived a beautiful and quiet life, and each of us was striving to achieve our dreams. We had a beautiful house in Rafah, and my husband owned a barber shop Very beautiful. I will attach pictures of it as well. It was a great source of livelihood for us. Recently, we celebrated my obtaining fourth place in the Gaza Strip in the Arabic language exam. Our life was like financial perfection. Morally, we did not feel deprived or lacking in anything. My son Muhammad was the most beautiful gift from God. His dream was to become a doctor, and now he carries water, wood, and firewood, and he bears a great responsibility that exceeds his capacity. I also had a little butterfly who dreamed of going to kindergarten every day wearing new clothes And a new spare change, the apple of the house.. it is the favorite of her teachers and friends in the kindergarten.. and my son Adam was never happy in his room and home, even his toys were deprived of their smallest rights. They were deprived of it. Then the war broke out and everything turned upside down. We had to leave the house after quadcopters, helicopters and tanks surrounded us. We saw death before our eyes, but we miraculously survived.  We were displaced several times on foot, and then we ended up in a tent that did not protect us from the cold of winter or the heat of summer. We were surrounded by poisonous insects and scorpions, and there was no clean water or healthy food. My family and I contracted hepatitis and many intestinal infections. We were shocked that our house was bombed and destroyed and that the features of the house disappeared from the face of the earth. We felt very sad and despair took over us.  Life here in Gaza is expensive. We cannot buy the minimum necessities of life. Imagine that the price of a kilo of tomatoes is 50 dollars, and the price of a bag of flour is 200 dollars. Life here is like famine! My father is a nervous patient and my mother suffers from chronic stress and they need constant treatment and medications. We suffer from fetching water from long distances, the high prices of food and cleaning materials, and water pollution. What we suffered the most in this war was the loss of members of our family, and this is the hardest thing we went through. We lost 20 members of our family. Please help us bear the very high costs of living until we get out of Gaza and save our lives. The cost per person is 5,000 dollars. Help us, you are the only hope. The rest.” I was also tired of contaminated food and contaminated water, which led to an intestinal infection and I needed treatment, but it was not available at that time. My children were exposed My young daughter also suffered from severe intestinal infections due to cold, unhealthy food, and involuntary urination as a result of the intense fear in which we lived. We lived in very difficult days, the sound of the planes that were in the skies of the Gaza Strip all the time, and the sounds of the cannons and the violent bombing at night. During the day, we slept and woke up to the sounds of bombing and destruction that surrounded us from all sides. At that moment and with the passage of time, we were in the same situation, living in fear, hunger, and deprivation of everything because of the siege that took place. The scarcity of food was imposed on us, which led to a crazy rise in prices, which reached the point where our children slept without dinner due to the lack of food. We were standing in lines at the bakery for long hours to get a loaf of bread that could last us up to 8 hours. We were standing in lines to get Drinking water. The suffering we experienced in the war was great and touching. I also broke my young son’s hand when the mosque next to us was bombed. Out of fear, he fell to the ground and broke his hand. You will find in the attachments pictures of me, my family, her family, and some of the conditions in which we live."