Help Ahmed's Family Survive the Genocide

My name is Ahmed Abu Awad, I’m a refugee from Gaza and my family urgently needs your help. Our home was bombed, leaving nine of my family displaced in Gaza, while my mother and little sister are now refugees in Turkey.

My youngest sister, Asil (15), and my mother, Ekram, were able to escape to Turkey on day 42 of the genocide to seek treatment for Asil's leukemia.

Asil was diagnosed when she was 9 years old and since evacuating, her condition has worsened. The cancer has now spread to her bones, brain, breasts and her eye. Enduring endless treatment, she worries constantly for our family and the stress continues to affect her health.

My father, Moein, suffers with diabetes and an injury he sustained while fleeing an airstrike. Due to his condition, the injury to his foot became badly infected. First his toes, then his entire foot had to be amputated without anaesthetic. Unable to support our family, he is bed-bound while the infection persists and needs more treatment.

Living in a tent with my father in Deir Al Balah refugee camp, is my younger sister, Shams (18). Shams’ name means ‘the Sun’ and she is a light in my life. She aspires to be a school teacher and since the universities were destroyed, she walks through the camps each day to connect to Al-Aqsa's university hotspot and continue her studies.

My sister Sara (26) lives in the camp with Shams, my father and her two young children, Karmel (3) and Hadi (5). Sara’s husband Mustafa was killed in the bombings, leaving her to care for their children in this desperate situation without him.

Mustafa was a skilled mechanic, he was a wonderful father and husband, he was like a son to my mother and he was my best friend. My beloved brother. Losing Mustafa has been beyond devastating.

My eldest sister, Mai (33), had been sheltering in a UN school in Northern Gaza with her husband Sabri and their three sons, Esam (7), Majd (5) & Baraa (3), unable to flee to the south with the rest of our family due to the intensity of the bombings.

Some weeks ago, they left to find food and in their absence, their room was bombed. Since then, they returned to Al-Shati Camp, where they were almost killed in another airstrike when the UN shelter next to them was targeted. By the grace of God, they are still alive.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

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