Support Gaza Families with Meals and Water

My name is Nora Qasmieh and I am a Palestinian with roots to Gaza from my grandfather's side, Abdel Mohsen Ali Hasan. I am organizing the Gaza Hope Fund charity program from the United States to help provide meals and clean drinking water for families in need across the Gaza Strip.

On March 17, 2025, Israel resumed its unprecedented genocide on Gaza in the early hours of dawn, after a two-month 'pause' killing at least 200 Palestinians in less than 12 hours, many of which are women and children embracing in their sleep. The death toll continues to rise, as the airstrikes and bombs continue to reign over the Gaza skies. This has left the total number of martyrs to reach over 100,000 innocent men, women, children, elderly, ill, and injured since the beginning of this genocide, claiming thousands of lives missing under the rubble, and a few thousand held hostage in Israeli prisons without charge, subjected to unimaginable torture; their health condition unknown. Pre and post ceasefire, with the continuation of air strikes and bombardment of hospitals, schools, mosques and homes, families are on the brink of death due to starvation and malnourishment. Families are not only unable to cope and recover emotionally from grief, but are also unable to sustain life with what they have in order to survive.

Background on how I came to reach this breaking point – At the beginning of this genocide, I was scrolling endlessly on Instagram reading stories of pain and survival and seeing heart shattering images of dead children, bodies strewn collecting flour, families migrating from the north to the south in mass numbers, images of neighborhoods completely flattened and buildings destroyed and reduced to rubble, disintegrated bodies torn apart laying on the ground with missing heads, or are charred beyond recognition; images that we can never erase nor forget from our memories. We appreciate and hold dear to our hearts our courageous Photojournalists and the Press on the field who make it all visible, risking their lives every moment, every day, to capture the harsh reality of life in Gaza and live-stream for the entire world’s eyes to see. I saw newborns and children less than five years old die of malnourishment and starvation due to the lack of food to keep them alive. There are countless of people, an entire population, in need for this basic human necessity to live, breathe, and feel safe. With the current situation of the crossings being closed and aid trucks withheld from entry by the Israeli government through the Rafah Crossing bordering Egypt, many families are struggling to find a meal to eat and don't have drinkable water to last a day. I started donating out of my own pocket to multiple families, but I was reaching the point where I was struggling to financially provide for each of them on my own. Through charity outreach and connecting with families I became a family with, I came in touch with a brother, Noor Suleiman from Deir El Balah, who was involved in distributing food from his small family open kitchen, where Noor's mother cooks with what she is able to afford and find to prepare and distribute meals to the neighboring displacement camp. Through consistent phone conversations and physically seeing the situation on the ground through video calls, I saw how dire the situation is. We decided to establish the Gaza Hope Fund initiative to maintain the family kitchen to continue providing meals to families living in the displacement camp in Deir El Balah and hopefully expand the kitchen initiative beyond to other areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip as we grow and become more successful through time.

The donations will be used to provide expenses for Noor's mother to purchase food supplies and items to cook for the displacement camp every day, currently housing 40 families. We looked at the current prices of fruits, vegetables, and maintaining supplies such as wood to use as means of cooking due to lack of fuel, we calculated that if we achieve our goal of $500 a week, we can feed the families continuously, depending on the fluctuating prices of produce and food items and what is available from the markets on hand. A secondary part of the donations will go towards clean water as it will cost $300 per day for a 1000L barrel, providing easy access for individuals to collect for their tents. Although these numbers seem relatively high, we are hopeful that once the crossings open and aid is allowed to flow inside Gaza, prices will begin to reduce which will make food more accessible and affordable to purchase. I am also trying to expand the charity initiative at my local Masjid in Southern New Jersey Camden County to help gain as many donations from the local community as possible. We will maintain weekly updates on what the team has achieved on the ground, sharing stories, photos, and videos of children's smiles and laughter to show our donors how much their contributions have positively impacted and made a change to a devastating reality and what once was a broken dream.

The war on Gaza has not only torn families apart, but shaken the human world as a whole who feel for Gaza's suffering and are unable to do more than what we wish could be done. Politics aside, I believe we can support and show the people of Gaza that they are not alone and neglected, as the majority of our world leaders have proven to be more aggressive and indifferent to their cause. That we are going to be there for them across the world rallying through protests, demonstrations, social media, songs, charity, and building valuable, meaningful friendships. By donating, we can all come together as one community to help Gaza and provide hope and light during their dark days. Your charitable donations are a lifeline for families in Gaza by giving them the chance to survive another day.

In advance, thank you for your donations, as we hope to make Gaza livable with each passing day.

As Prophet Muhammad (SAW) says: “Whoever guides someone to goodness, will have a reward like one who did it.” Thank you all.

Update 3/14/2025:

Noor’s generous mother prepared Gaza’s famous maftool, hand rolled bulgur with flour, to feed some of the displaced families in Deir El Balah. Noor helped organize distribution with local neighbors who went around the camp to hand deliver the meal packages.

Update 3/17/2025 and 3/18/2025:

We were able to secure 2 barrels of water on 3/17 bNoor took a risk to gather and distribute water while Israeli planes were hovering the sky. He is seen giving the introduction in the video. Everyone was brave. The atmosphere was tense after the bombardments earlier today