Hello! I am Chloe. I work for a small NGO in the UK as a family caseworker and an immigration adviser. I have written this urgent gofundme to support the baby twins Mariam and Celine and their extended family who are in Jabalia, Gaza.

Mariam and Celine are the daughters of my friends Mariam and Ahmed whom I have known for about two years. Mariam and Celine were born one cold morning by caesarean section in Nuseirat in November 2025. They never wanted to set up a gofundme because they believed that things would get better and always thought that there were people struggling more that they were. Their quiet dignity has always touched me. However with the arrival of their beautiful twins and the very harsh winter, Mariam and Ahmed agreed for me to support them to set up this campaign. Kindly remember that every penny or pound or dollar or euro will help and make a difference.

The whole of the extended family lives in one tent and they desperately need money to buy materials to buy at least another tent or to buy materials to build a more robust shelter. They also need money for nappies, for formula milk, for food and for medicine.

Mariam, Ahmed and I have collaborated together to write the gofundme from the point of view of their beautiful twins Mariam and Celine.

Our story – Mariam and Celine

Hello and God bless you for taking the time to read this. We are the twins Mariam and Celine. We were born on a cold morning in November 2025 by caesarean section in Nuseirat to our mother Mariam (she has the same name as one of us and we will tell you why later on!) and our father Ahmed.

We currently live with our parents Ahmed and Mariam, our two aunties Selma and Nabila, our two uncles Emad and Ali, their wives Khulood and Zeinab, our five month old cousin, Yusuf, and our grandparents Khadijah and Khalid. Zeinab is pregnant and expecting her first baby in May 2026. God willing she will give birth safely. Before the war, both of our parents, our aunties and our uncles were teachers and our uncle Emad was an engineer.

Our family was never rich or well off. Our grandparents Khadijah and Khalid instilled a good work ethic in our father and aunts and uncles and raised them to be kind and thoughtful. They all graduated from university and before the war, they were all working to create and build better lives. Our father Ahmed, our mother Mariam and our aunt Nabila all studied French at university and are fluent French speakers. Our grandmother in particular is an exceptional woman and she always taught her children to be respectful of others, to share whatever they have and to live with dignity. She taught them to work hard. Our family had always lived in rented accommodation. However, they worked hard and saved money and just one year before October 2023 our family finally moved into their own family home in Jabalia. Unfortunately the house was bombed and destroyed right at the beginning of the war.

Since then our family has been living in makeshift tents. Our family' s tents were stolen during one of the displacements. Our family has been displaced over 20 times within the following places – Rafah, Deir Al Balah, Khan Younis, Gaza City, Al Sheikh Ridwan, Nuseirat, etc and now we have moved back to the site of our family home in Jabalia. We live in a makeshift tent on its site.

Our parents Mariam and Ahmed met at university in Gaza before the war started. They had known each other for many years and had decided to marry. Theirs is a love marriage. The war started and their original wedding plans were thwarted. In fact, our father lost the money that he had put down as a deposit for the wedding celebration. He had worked and saved this money. And then with the war he lost everything. But our father loved our mother so much that he was undeterred. Our parents went ahead with their dreams and they had a small wedding. We were born in November 2025. It was a very cold morning. Ahmed our father loves Mariam our mother so much and he spent everything he could on providing for our mother during the pregnancy. When he saw how difficult it was for her to undergo the surgery of a caesarean section and what she endured he said that he would like to name one of us Mariam too! And now he continues to provide for her and for us and for the rest of the family too with his usual dedication and compassion.

Our weight was shockingly low at birth 1.2kg and 1.6kg and this was due to the starvation and to the lack of food in Gaza. However by the grace of God we survived! We had jaundice for a few days but this too we were able to overcome. Our mother who was still recovering from the c-section has had to rest because not only is she weak from the surgery but her body was not in an optimum state to undergo such an operation. Our father Ahmed helps out as much as he can but he has to wake up very early every morning and ride a bike an hour away to go and teach French in a school. At night time it is our grandmother Khadijah and our aunts Nabila and Selma who look after us.

Our family never wanted to ask for financial support. But our parents’ friend Chloe who is supporting us to write this campaign has encouraged us. Of course our family has always needed support but they were shy to ask for support. Now though, our friend Chloe is encouraging us and supporting us to do this.

As we told you at the start of the assault from the IDF, our family home was destroyed by the Israeli bombs that literally fell on the heads of our family. Our grandmother, our aunt Selma and our uncle Emad were rescued from under the rubble. Emad was badly injured in his arm and belly. He cannot work due to his injuries. And after that our family have been living in makeshift tents. It isn’t a tent as you imagine! It is a shelter made of blankets and any other materials or objects that they can find. We lost everything in the destruction of our home. Living in the tent is very difficult. The conditions are cramped. For our mother, our aunties and grandmother it is particularly difficult because there is no privacy at all. There are no washing or toilet facilities. In Winter, the tent is very cold and we are told that in Summer the tent is extremely hot! Of course we have not experienced the heat of the summer so we will update you about this in the summer! And of course when it rains, everyone and everything gets wet and soaked. You may remember the strong winds and rains a few days ago – we were affected by this too. Many of our belongings were wet and damaged. The cold penetrated our bones.

As the future in Gaza remains very uncertain and the winter is so very cold, our father and uncles are trying to buy materials in order to build a more robust shelter. There are very limited building materials entering Gaza and they are very expensive. Please help us to buy the materials to build a stronger and warmer shelter for the winter months.

Although there is a very fragile ceasefire in place, the airstrikes are still ongoing and people are being martyred. We live in the constant fear and hyper vigilance that it will be our turn next to die. The effect that this is having on our mental health cannot be underestimated. Psychologically our conditions are bad. We await death but still hold on to the hope that one day we will be able to rebuild our home and live again. We trust that God will help us.

We have to rebuild our lives in Gaza. We do not have the option of leaving Gaza so we need your support and we hope that you will help us. Our father Ahmed and our uncles and our aunts are working hard to survive. But it isn’t enough. Anything that you can donate will go to helping us and our family to eat, to keep warm and to clothe ourselves. Our mum Mariam is trying to breast feed us as much as possible but because she didn’t receive the food she needed then she can’t produce enough milk for both of us. Our father Ahmed tries to find formula milk when he can. We also need nappies.

We will send you updates too so you can keep in touch and see us grow! And one day, who knows, we may even have the chance to meet each other. One thing is for sure – we will always remember you in our prayers.

Although there is food coming into Gaza, it is not enough. And the food that is coming in is not of any nutritional value. The fruit and vegetables and meat are exorbitantly expensive and these are the types of food that we need to grow, thrive and live well.

All the words we share with you, all the photos we can show you can not convey just how difficult our lives are. Living in a Gaza is a nightmare. Death can visit us at any time. But our grandparents, parents and aunties and uncles believe in God’s greatness and we hope that you will be able to support us.

So on behalf of ourselves the twins Mariam and Celine and our cousin Yusuf and our parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles we respectfully ask you to please support us so that we can buy food and other living essentials and build a more robust shelter.

Please never forget that each member of our family will keep you in their prayers.