UPDATE: Asma, her two small children and her husband desperately want to travel outside of Gaza to rebuild their lives, and plan to do so as soon as the Rafah crossing is fully open. In the meantime, prices of food and day-to-day necessities in Gaza are astronomical. Please give anything you can to support them in their attempt to heal and recover from the misery of the last two years.

Dear Friends,

Asma and her family have been displaced again. This time they were forced to flee Gaza City to the south. It took them days to even find land on which to put their tent, land that they rent at exorbitant prices. Before the war on Gaza they lived comfortably on $500 a month. Now they need $2000 a month just to buy basic necessities.

Here is the tent where they now live:

Asma's husband digging a toilet for their tent:

Buckets full of water for the family. It's not clean but it's all there is:

My name is Laura Dean. I am an American journalist and I worked in Gaza many times. While I was there I met Asma Shahein and her family. The cover picture is her almost-3-year-old daughter Meera. This is her one-year-old son, Mohamed, smiling on the floor of one of the many tents where his family has lived in the last two years. In his short life, all he has known is bombardment and displacement.

In the first months of the bombing of Gaza, Asma and her husband Ahmed's home was bombed. Since then, they have moved many times. When this Go Fund Me was set up, we hoped to use the money to pay for the family to leave Gaza and build a new life in Egypt. The cost was $5000 per adult, and $2500 per child. However, the border with Egypt has been closed since May. And while as soon as it opens Asma will register her family to leave, in the meantime, what little food they can find for their children is astronomically expensive. Drinkable water is hardly available. Any small illness or injury their children get is terrifying as the health system in Gaza has collapsed. The bombs are so close and there is nowhere safe to go.

They have lost everything. Anything you can share to help them feed their young children and rebuild their lives would be so appreciated.

With tremendous thanks, Asma, Ahmed, Meera and Mohamed

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.