Help My Family Survive The Genocide in Gaza

UPDATE [May 21, 2024]:

Thank you to everyone who has stood with my family.

My family continues to suffer in Gaza amidst the ongoing genocide. Since the creation of this GFM in March we have been displaced multiple times and survived bombings in both Rafah and Khan Younis. My family is 7 people, me, my wife, our 3 young children, and my elderly parents. We still need your help affording food, drink, clothes, diapers, and supplies in order to survive this genocide. We have nowhere else to turn.

[Our old neighborhood in Khan Younis, reduced to rubble.]

On April 23 we were forced to transfer from Rafah to Mawasi, Khan Younis because of bombings very close to our tent in Rafah. Our three young children were overtaken with fear from the sound of Israeli bombs and endless drones over Rafah. As the bombings grew closer and closer, we had to flee, we had no other choice.

Each time we are displaced we must start anew, we must abandon our tents and purchase new supplies for our next tent when we arrive at our next camp. This cycle continues each time we are displaced. Displacement means endless new expenses.

After we fled Rafah for Khan Younis, the bombings followed. Only 4 days after fleeing to Khan Younis we were once again plagued by bombings, they have not stopped since.

[Israeli bombs targeting displaced people in Khan Younis, pictures from April 27 and 30]

When our tent flooded days later there was not much we could do, because of the rain and because we cannot afford a waterproof tent cover we lived in the puddles and drips until we were able to take out all the wet material from our tent. This is not the life I want for my precious children and loving wife.

[Our children smile and wave to the camera despite circumstances.]

Only days later, on the 215th day of this genocide, Israeli forces intensified its ground invasion of Rafah and many more fled to Khan Younis, causing crowding and chaos. This mass exodus to Khan Younis has created more scarcity and higher prices for our basic necessities.

[Thousands flee Rafah for Khan Younis because of the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, causing greater shortages and higher prices.]

We continue to suffer and humbly ask for your help. We ask for donations in order to afford the most basic of needs: water, food, shelter, diapers, clothes, and the other unexpected expenses that come with being continually displaced.

Original Campaign [March 8, 2024]

I am Mahmoud Abu Omar, 30 years old, from Khan Yunis, Gaza, Palestine. My wife and I have 3 young children. Now we live in tents in Rafah with my elderly father and mother. I am asking for your help to feed my family, since our home was bombed my family goes days without eating.

[Our 3 wonderful children before the war]

We have been displaced multiple times because of Israeli bombing. Our home in Khan Younis was completely bulldozed after we fled and everything near our home has been destroyed by Israeli bulldozers. We cannot return to our home because Israeli forces are still in Khan Younis. Everyday in Rafah we hope to stay alive.

[Our home and neighborhood destroyed by Israeli bombs]

Before the genocide I worked in agriculture. Now there is no work, the War has become my full time job. I pray this war will end and we can return to where our homes once stood. For now we live in tents in the bitter cold, with very little food, water, clothes, or diapers. Aid does not get to us, as Israeli forces block trucks on all borders. Everything is so expensive now in Gaza. I am asking you to help me feed my family, clothe my children, and provide my youngest with diapers.

[Last Ramadan we decorated with lights and the children played with toys]

[This Ramadan we are living in tents, hungry and displaced]

Ramadan begins on 11 March, 2024. This year, we do not know how to provide food for my young family in this blessed month of Ramadan. In the past, during Ramadan we would fast and eat in our homes, the children played and we would give them toys, clothes, and their favorite foods, but this Ramadan our children are deprived of everything. All we can hope for is to escape death. Please help me help my family, I cannot bear to witness the sadness and hunger of my young children. They deserve a decent life away from fear, bombing, and war.

[Our children's only sandals are worn and broken]

I am requesting funds for:

We do not know what else to do in these days of genocide. Our children suffer greatly from a lack of food, water, clothes, and diapers. All funds will be sent to me by co-organizer Edward Rich in Brooklyn, NY.

Thank you and bless you,

Mahmoud Abu Omar