Warmth and Hope for Mohammed's Family in Gaza

UPDATE MARCH 2025

Mohammed and his family were able to move back north to their hometown during the six week ceasefire from January to March. After a difficult journey, seeing people shot as they tried to cross back to the areas where their homes lay, they found their neighborhood converted to piles of rubble. With neighbors the began they difficult process of uncovering bodies from under the wreckage and clearing space for living quarters.

Food, water, and electricity has become more and more difficult to obtain as the blockade of Gaza continues. They need funds to help purchase these basic necessities for themselves as the scarcity of resources has made the situation very desperate. Please donate to support them and help them survive this awful situation. Do anything you can to help bring this war to an end. This suffering must stop.

ORIGINAL POST - OCTOBER 2024

Help Mohammed and his family get through the winter and survive this horrible war in Gaza. Like many, he, his mother, and brother had to flee their home in the north of Gaza one year ago after it was destroyed in the bombardment.

Mohammed Hajila is 19 years old, and before the war, he worked for a business that installed and maintained security cameras.

In his words:

"The war destroyed everything, so we became jobless. When the occupation army destroyed our homes, we were forced to move to the south of the Gaza Strip because the occupation bombed our home and created a violent belt of fire in the neighborhood where I live, which led to the death of at least 300 people. They are still under the rubble to this day. Now I work selling vegetables, but our cost of living is very high. We have been deprived of everything."

Mohammed worked very hard over several months to earn enough to buy a tent (cost: $400) for him and his family to stay in, but they have little else. His immediate needs are to pay for material to repair his tent which was damaged in another recent airstrike on the so-called "safe-zone" in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis.

His family also needs sleeping mattresses/mats (about $1000 total) and covers ($100 each, at least three are needed) to stay warm as winter comes upon them and one million other Gazans trying to survive on the sandy coast of Al Mawasi. Additional money will be used to buy food and warm clothes. The prices of everything unfortunately continue to be very elevated due to the ongoing blockade and restrictions on aid into Gaza.

He has been trying to cultivate cucumber, basil, and other vegetables in the sandy soil near their tent to provide them with a little bit of extra sustenance beyond the limited food aid available. Additional funds could be used to purchase seeds, which are also scarce and expensive, to grow more edible plants.

Mohammed dreams of traveling after the war ends to start life over elsewhere, but if it is not possible to leave with his entire family, they will try to repair their destroyed home. In the meantime, he is trying to make the most of a terrible situation by attending some classes being offered in English.

I was put in touch with Mohammed by my good friend in Colorado that organizes relief fundraising work for Gazawis both in Palestine and displaced in Egypt. Over the past few months, we have chatted and got to know each other, and he has helped me understand how to we can directly support his family and community. All funds will go directly to him via international transfer to cover immediate needs and provide for his family. The sooner we can stop this awful war, the sooner they can go back to rebuilding. Please give what you can to help repair the damage that is being caused by the continued devastation of Gaza.