Rebuilding lives and healing hearts for Gazan family

I am Maysaa Youssef from Gaza, standing before you as someone trying to protect my family of six. My husband, Muhammad Imad, is an industrial engineer, and our children are Nasma, 11 years old, Naseem, 8 years old, Zein, 6 years old, and Farah, 3 years old. We are struggling to survive under miserable conditions. It is difficult for me to find the words to describe what we face every day in Gaza. No food, no medicine, no clean drinking water, oppression, helplessness, psychological pressure, doubts, and daily trauma from losing loved ones. In Gaza, it’s not just about hunger, illness, and fear; it means actual death.

I studied architecture, and my husband Muhammad worked in managing his family’s factory specializing in ice cream production. But now, due to the destruction, we have lost everything—our home, the garden, the factory, the job, the car, the money, and everything we owned.

Now, I find myself in this difficult situation, urgently and humbly asking for your help to save my family’s life, especially my children, by getting us out of Gaza. The situation in Gaza has become unbearable due to the slow death from hunger, thirst, homelessness, the spread of diseases, and continuous bombing.

Since October 7th, due to the relentless bombing in Gaza, we have been displaced from our homes, moving from the north to the south of Gaza. My family has been displaced multiple times. Currently, we are living under extremely poor humanitarian conditions, with shortages of food, water, and toilets, in addition to harsh weather, and lacking the basic necessities of life.

The past few months have been filled with hell and terror. This war has dragged on for too long, and our mental health and lives are constantly at risk. We have reached a point where there is no hope left in Gaza, as if we are just waiting for death. Even if a ceasefire is reached, the devastation in Gaza cannot be quickly repaired.

To cross the border between Gaza and Egypt at “Rafah,” our names must be on the crossing list (a paid permit). Coordinators in Egypt, who are authorized to add our family’s names to the list at the border, are demanding $5,000 per adult and $2,500 per child. Unfortunately, our home was completely burned down. I spent the first forty days of the war with my four children without my husband, who was stuck in Egypt. He returned for us during the truce so we could continue to fight together to survive. We have been displaced multiple times and have narrowly escaped death numerous times. In December, we were subjected to heavy bombing, and I sustained a back injury from a shrapnel wound, with a piece the size of a lentil still lodged in my back, requiring surgical intervention.

Today, I need your help, and I ask for it humbly for the sake of my children. Your assistance will greatly alleviate our suffering. I hope you will share my story with your family and friends.

I will be forever grateful for your kind help during this difficult time.