Dear friends and family from our homes around the world,

(Cairo - Mo, San Leandro - Tessa, Florence - Smilla, Thuwal - Abril, Vancouver - all of us)

As you read this post, the four of us have started a hunger strike (no food, only water) in protest of Israel & the US’s systematic starvation in Gaza and the ongoing genocide and occupation.

As the genocide moves out of the news cycle in the West and people begun to turn their heads away after the supposed ceasefire, we’re calling out to our own networks— our friends, our teachers, our families, our neighbours, our Instagram mutuals— to join us in contributing all the resources we have to give in service of true Palestinian liberation and sovereignty.

We are raising money for two of our friends in Gaza, as well as for The Sameer Project aid organization. The four of us will break bread only once we hit our fundraising goal of $5,000. While we're acting in solidarity with calls from the Palestinian National Initiative for a Global Hunger Strike, this is a personal and relational action for us.

Funds will be sent as direct mutual aid for our two friends:

One, a family friend who wishes to remain anonymous, has been a community organizer on the ground for years. A month ago, he had his home in the North bombed, with nearly every member of his family killed.

Mohammed, another friend, managed to leave the country but is asking for support in getting money to his family in the North of Gaza. Their home was also destroyed by the IDF, and contributions will go towards food, renting land, and treatment for his father’s amputated leg. If the ceasefire holds, both of them will need massive support in rebuilding their lives from scratch.

The rest of the funds will be donated to The Sameer Project, led by Palestinians in the diaspora and one of the only remaining organizations consistently able to mobilize and distribute resources within Gaza.

Faisal, a dear friend, recently led his own hunger strike and raised nearly $20,000 for the Gaza Soup Kitchen. He is a large inspiration for this, and we echo his words:

"I am calling to the part of you that winces and gasps and automatically reaches out a hand when someone stumbles and falls in front of you. I am calling for a little bit of change in a horrible world— a drop in a bucket that is so negligible in the grand scheme of justice that it can't even afford being a token of symbol. But still, I want to call, and I want you to answer. Can we just let people eat?"

If you have $5 to contribute, please do. If you have $1,000 to contribute, please do. If you have only Instagram reposts at your disposal, please share.

With love and rage,

Mo, Tessa, Abril, Smilla