Our Home Was Destroyed & Our Smile Stolen

‎I never expected to wake up one day to a scene like this on the fateful day of October 7th

‎Hello, 19 years old, from the Gaza Strip, a first-year student at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza. As you may know, I am currently in Gaza with my family, suffering from a catastrophic situation in the face of war since our lives have been turned upside down. We have been displaced from our home so far. My father, my brother, two sisters, and my grandmother are now living in a small tent.

My university was destroyed. I aspired to be an engineer and complete my education to serve my community. Our home, which was once a haven for us all, was destroyed to rubble. My grandmother, who used to live with us, now suffers from a lack of proper health care. We are struggling for my grandmother and my mother is doing her best to provide us with the little food she can prepare. My father is a farmer, and his farm was completely demolished by theoccupation

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The first night of the war we were trying to sleep normally I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen to us. The Israelis dropped many rockets close to us which was very scary and woke me up with my family and another powerful rocket but this time very close to our house we couldn't get out of our house for fear of bombing the house over our heads we went to a safer area I can't even describe how horrible the scene was literally the saddest thing was the children crying luckily we got through that night alive. Then we stayed in an UNRWA school for three months (it's supposed to be a safe shelter but on the same night they bombed an UNRWA school) for the next week life was really hard! Harder than you can imagine! 50 people in one room! Imagine! Then in a tent for almost 6 months now and if there's one thing I can tell you is that living in a tent like this is like camping in the desert but for a very long time. Living on less than the bare minimum requirements of life, and what makes it worse is having to deal with all the emotional stress that comes with fearing for your life all the time and knowing that you can’t do anything about it because you are helpless, so you wait your turn and try to live your last day every day.

The money I raise will be used for all expenses to get out of Gaza and rebuild our lives again and treat my grandmother, including university and school fees because we won’t have the money to pay for them but we need to go and get on with our lives. Let me explain why it is so expensive.

In order to leave the Gaza Strip on normal days it is really difficult, leaving during the war is more possible than impossible, you need to get a foreign nationality or pay some money to get your name on the list of travelers through the Rafah land port, and since we don’t have foreign passports, we will need to pay money to go through the Rafah land port which we don’t have.

It costs around $5,000 to $10,000 per person to get their name on the list, I have 7 family members other than myself that I need to get our names on the list.

We are trying to raise the funds that will help us cover the full cost of the trip, pay for our survival and get us out of this war zone as quickly as possible.

I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read this appeal and thinking about how you can support us. Your help and support can make a profound difference in ensuring the safety of my family.

Thank you for your interest and for any help you can offer.