Help six kids and their family survive in Gaza

Hello,

My name is Karam and I'm asking for help to survive in Gaza along with my five brothers and sisters, mom and aunt. We are in need of the basics: food, clothing, and medical treatment.

Every day the price of the dwindling food and other necessities in Gaza are getting higher. Some of us need medical treatment for injuries sustained in bombings. And because it is getting close to winter, the weather is getting colder and wetter, and we don't have warm clothes or blankets.

Daily life in a tent camp

My family and I are currently living in a small tent in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, after being displaced several times from our home. Many displaced families in Gaza have ended up in Deir al-Balah. Even though it is full of tents with displaced civilians - families like mine - there are still bombings from the Israeli military here and we never feel safe.

I got out every day to look for supplies, to gather water for cooking and seawater for cleaning our clothes. Sometimes if I am lucky, I'll find someone with a solar charger to charge my phone. It's the only way we can let our father - who was in the West Bank when the genocide started and has been forced to stay there - know that we are still alive.

I would like to tell you a little about myself, as well as my family and what we have been through since last October. I am 20 years old and my brothers and sisters are: Mahmoud, 18; Amneh, 15; Saja, 12; Zaina, 9 and six year old Mohammed.

Just months ago I was studying computer engineering at my university in Gaza. My passion was programming websites and databases. I dreamed of creating my own programming and development company with my brother.

Life since Oct. 7: Displaced over and over

When the war started, we were at home in Al Tawam district north of Gaza City trying to secure supplies of food and water. After a couple of days, the area was threatened with bombing so we evacuated our home to my uncle's house in another neighborhood called Tel al-Hawa in southern Gaza City.

Within an hour, we got evacuation orders and had to leave amid intense bombing. We had to leave so fast we left everything behind that we had brought from home.

Our uncle's home was destroyed, and we had to wait in the chaos in the streets with random bombing until we could find a car that could take us to a safer area. We later learned our home had also been bombed after we left. We returned and took photos of the house we worked so hard for, and that I had hoped to make bigger one day.

After surviving the bombing at my uncle's neighborhood, we went to my father's uncle's home in Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza. We stayed in Jabalia for part of the winter, and experienced constant shelling. Then Israel began to target residential areas like ours and we were bombed in the house.

What it feels like to be bombed

It was a moment of sheer chaos and destruction. I was injured and got fractures in my right leg. I, along with other members of my family, also suffered third degree burns. There was no medical treatment available in the area for our injuries.

We heard there was a hospital in Deir al-Balah, so we decided to leave the north and go there to central Gaza. Now, we are living in a small tent in Deir al-Balah.

My little sister has PTSD from the bombings. Several of us have contracted hepatitis from the dirty water we are forced to drink.

When we first got to the tent, we had nothing to sleep on or cover ourselves with. Our bathroom is made from thin sheets of metal and a bathroom chair that's over a hole. It doesn't meet the minimum requirements for a bathroom. We hope to have warm blankets and coats for the winter.

What I hope for in my future

Any money that is donated to this campaign will be spent on basic necessities for my family so that we can survive. As long as the war is still going, food and other items needed for survival are going to be few and where you can find them - very expensive.

If the war ends, and we survive, we would use whatever funds are left to rebuild our life in Gaza. Our home has been destroyed and we've lost almost everything but our lives. I also hope to continue my education and one day start my own company like I had planned.

Please share this campaign or donate if you are able to, thank you for reading.

NOTE FROM ORGANIZER:

Who am I?

My name is Renee Lewis and I lived in the West Bank for two years working as a reporter. I went on to have a career in reporting as an international journalist. I made lifelong friends in Palestine during my time there and have been checking in to see if I could support them in any way since the war began. A friend told me about this family's story and asked if I would help to organize the GoFundMe page. I said yes.

Why isn't Karam organizing this himself?

I put together this fundraiser on behalf of Karam and his family since they are unable to due to reasons like:

Is there anyone else involved in this campaign?

Yes! In addition to my friends in Palestine who are assisting, a former colleague from my reporting days has joined the effort from South Africa. He and others there have been working to help with things like promoting the campaign on social media, as well as with translating interviews. It has become an international effort!

MEDIA:

"We must not succumb to despair, Palestinians need our help" - Al Jazeera English

Read the article here

Law & Disorder Podcast, radio interview July 9, 2024:

Listen here

International Press Release (updated August 2024)

An international effort is underway to help six Gaza siblings evacuate the besieged territory, but concerns over the validity of such campaigns have slowed fundraising. The family hopes to be able to leave Gaza and reunite with their father who is in the West Bank.

Some of the kids were injured a bombing and their home has also been bombed and destroyed. They have been displaced by Israeli attacks several times to their current tent in Deir al Balah. Now, several have contracted hepatitis from dirty water and there is no treatment available for them in Gaza.

This fundraiser offers one small way to make a life-changing impact for one family in Gaza for those of us on the sidelines heartbroken over the impact on children in Gaza from Israel’s genocide, but feeling powerless to help. Seeing the successful campaigns, and the photos of the families smiling on the other side is one positive in all of the destruction.

However, there are many barriers to people in Gaza being able to successfully organize a GoFundMe campaign - such as internet access or banking information that got left behind as families were forced to flee. And as much as people watching want to help, it is often hard to confirm that these campaigns are legitimate.

I lived and reported in the West Bank for two years before starting work for Al Jazeera’s online news desk, first in Doha and then in New York City. Since October, I have been checking in with my friends in Palestine to see if I can do anything to support them. This spring, one of my friends told me about meeting the father of the six children and hearing their story. We decided to help them by setting up a campaign on GoFundMe.

I have created the GoFundMe for the family’s evacuation, and reached out to my international network for support in promoting the campaign. A former colleague from Al Jazeera has joined the effort from South Africa - which has a strong pro-Palestinian network due to their history with Apartheid. He plans to organize in-person events and create online content to support the GoFundMe campaign. Both of us plan to speak on radio shows and podcasts both in the U.S. and South Africa to promote the fundraiser.

I've gotten interviews with members of the family and plan to write news articles about this campaign as well. We will add links to media here as they are posted online.

Currently, the Rafah border is closed and no one is able to evacuate. If they cannot evacuate, the money would be used for whatever medical treatment they can get and for rebuilding their life in Gaza.

Note: The original goal of this fundraiser was to evacuate the family to safety through the Rafah border into Egypt, so that they could reunite with their father. However, since creating this fundraiser, Israel's military has destroyed the Rafah border crossing and trapped all Gazans inside. Because of that, the focus of the fundraiser is to help the family survive during the way, and any remaining funds would be used to rebuild their lives after the war is over.