Help Families in Gaza Find Shelter, Food, or Necessities

Update August 8 2024:

Hello community,

Thank you very much for your generous donations to support Palestinian families, including mine. Since the Rafah border blockade, we have raised money to send essential food and supplies to Palestinians in Gaza. We also gave a period for community members who donated with the intention to support my family’s escape to request refunds, informing them that we are now supporting the effort to send essential food and water.

Unfortunately, due to the severity of the Israeli blockade, none of my family was able to leave. As sending money is extremely difficult and supplies in Palestine are limited, we donated the remaining community donations to UNRWA, raising $12,500 in partnership with the GoFundMe team. This money will support essential needs for Palestinians in Gaza, as UNRWA has more access to the broader Palestinian population when grassroots community support fails.

Please continue supporting UNRWA and other organizations. Saving one Palestinian is like saving my entire family. We are praying for my family and every Palestinian to thrive in a time of genocide and extreme torture by Israel on all scales.

Thank you.

Update July 11 2024: 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency on your fundraiser as the organizer of where funds will now be going.

Update July 3 2024: 

As Israeli blocked Rafah borders last month, the purpose of the fundraiser was originally to register their names for safe passage to Egypt. This is not an option. We are pausing the fundraiser and returning $12,956 to GoFundme to refund the community who submitted donations to support the initial purpose. Go fund me said they will refund the donors. Below their statement in details 

From Gofundme

Because the purpose of your fundraiser's donations has changed, we will need to inform your donors. This will ensure they understand how their contributions are being used and give them the opportunity to request refunds if they disagree. As the funds have been withdrawn, before proceeding with updating the fundraiser and informing the donors of the change, we would need you to donate back $12,956.00, to cover any eventual refund requests.

Update June 18 2024: Only Hayat and her kids escaped to Egypt prior to the blockage of Rafah borders. There is no way to get Palestinians out. We are pause the fundraiser in the hope of using the funds to either support food purchase or potential escape. Please support other families in the mean time 

 

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Update May 12 2024: Hala tours is offering Palestinians who registered to pass to safety to Egypt to request a refund. Hala said that they will reach out in two months to the folks who requested a refund. However, if the Rafah border crossing is opened and Israeli aggression stopped they will offer people who requested the refund to continue the process and fees for registration. I’m keeping the go fund me for my family. Whether to help them cross or rebuild based what will be the most important need. No one knows what tomorrow holds.

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Update May 11 2024: Palestinian refugee registration for safe passage is now on pause. We are pausing on registering family and we will update the community. We are keeping the go fund me just if the situation changed. But we don’t know if the situation will change.

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The donations will be sent to help register the names of the families in the Egyptian authorities to allow a save passage to Egypt.

Below is older post before the Rafah border closure - the priority is to provide support to the people in Gaza if we are able to send money to buy food that of limited supplies.

These families are my first cousins of my late aunt, a cherished figure who left behind a legacy through her children. Despite growing up under the constant fear in Gaza, they pursued education and professional careers—becoming professors, architects, and physicians. Now, they find themselves completely displaced, with their lives and dreams uprooted.

Our immediate goal is to secure their safe passage to Egypt, where they can reunite with family members who have already escaped the dangers of Gaza. Your contribution will directly support their journey to safety, covering essential expenses to the Egyptian government to allow them passage. It cost $3K for under 16 years old child and $6-8K for adults.

Every dollar brings us closer to giving these families a chance to rebuild their lives in a place free from the fear of violence. More than just survival, your support offers them a pathway to hope and a future.

Please read the detailed stories of these resilient families in the campaign description below. Join me in making a tangible difference in their lives by donating today. Together, we can help them move towards safety and start anew.

Thank you for your kindness and support.

More about the four families I am fundraising for in their own words. I translated as much as I can from Arabic to English.

1. Hazem's and Hayat's family

Hello, my name is Hayat. I am a Palestinian living in Gaza and a mother to seven children.

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Applied Science Technology and completed my Master's in Business Administration with a specialization in Financial Management in Egypt. I've supplemented my education with various courses in management, training methods, and project coordination, as well as in human development. I have worked extensively with charitable organizations, managing and coordinating projects, and I've developed my skills further as a human development trainer, coaching a large group of young men and women in administrative skills and sports facilitation.

I continued to advance my skills and was contracted as a university lecturer at Al-Quds Open University for four semesters until the pandemic shifted education online. During this time, I turned to volunteer work as an interior designer, helping friends and eventually designing my own home that I had dreamt of for 16 years. I poured my heart, love, and passion into this project, which turned out beautifully and was admired by all who saw it. Unfortunately, I was able to enjoy living in it for only one month due to the devastating war that took away everything beautiful, all our life's work, our dreams, hopes, and aspirations—all now buried under rubble. Our beautiful Gaza has been ravaged.

Aside from these endeavors, I run an online page where I share my passion for cooking by posting my recipes with friends.

Tragically, my children also face significant health challenges. My eldest, Mu'taz Hazem Al-Baz, who is 16 and a half years old, suffers from a urinary reflux condition that has led to the atrophy of one kidney, and he now lives with just one functioning kidney. He requires surgery to remove the diseased kidney.

My daughter, Amirah Hazem Al-Baz, who is 15, faces the same health issue. She has one functioning kidney while the other has a valve problem that periodically requires injections to prevent the valve from narrowing.

My children Ihab, Jini, Hana, Tulin, and Zein Al-Deen, ranging in age from 13 to 3.5 years old, also share our home and lives, filled with challenges but also love and resilience.

2. Safaa and Munir's family

Hello, I am Munir Al-Baz, a recognized expert in urban planning with significant contributions across the Arab world, including the prestigious Sharjah ICCROM Award for my work in various Islamic cities. I have been deeply involved in numerous urban planning projects within Gaza and the Gaza Strip. My work extends to preserving cultural heritage in Gaza and other Islamic cities.

My wife, Safaa Mohammad Khalil Jouda, aged 38, is a distinguished graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering. She worked as a teaching assistant in the Computer Engineering department at the Islamic University of Gaza for a year. In 2014, she earned a diploma in educational qualification, passed the Palestinian Ministry of Education's teacher recruitment exams, and began her career as a teacher. She taught Information Technology and programming across different educational stages until 2020.

That year, she was transferred to the Ministry of Education’s E-Learning Department as a web designer and programmer. Within a team of about 30 educational specialists, she worked on Gaza’s first educational portal, the "Rawafed" portal. Safaa played a significant role in launching this portal and designing comprehensive educational systems that serve students from primary to high school levels. She managed the team responsible for producing video lessons for the Rawafed educational channel, producing approximately 5,000 instructional videos broadcasted on the Rawafed portal and TV channel. She also supervised numerous administrative and organizational tasks within the E-Learning Department and was appointed head of the Electronic Monitoring section.

3. Omar and his family

Hello, my name is Omar Abdel Qader Al-Baz, a holder of Palestinian identification, residing in the Gaza Strip. I have been married for six years, and until recently, I lived peacefully in my home, feeling like I had the world at my fingertips. My wife and I practiced law for several years, which provided our livelihood.

However, on Saturday, October 7th, we awoke to the terrifying sounds of indiscriminate bombing. That day marked the beginning of the destruction of my life as I knew it. I lost my beautiful home and my office, which was my source of income. Now, I find myself displaced, living in a tent within refugee camps designated for shelter. I am left without money or even the means to sustain daily life, and I continue to live in these refugee camps.

4. Reunite Helmy with Hind and the kids

Finally, I introduce myself, Helmi Sabri Muhammad Ziyad, a man who has lived over four decades. I studied telecommunications and maintenance and worked in this field for 10 years, followed by 7 years in sales and then 2 years in management. A year before the recent war, I started a business in the nuts and sweeteners trade and owned a Mercedes bus for transporting goods. Unfortunately, everything was destroyed at the onset of the Gaza war.

I had a passion for raising and caring for cats, at one point having more than 40 cats, most of whom tragically died due to relentless bombing. Despite these hardships, I still hold on to hope for life and a new, safe beginning with my wife and our two young daughters, Sarah and Farah.

Please keep my family and me in your prayers for a long life and a peaceful, happy existence.

Here is the list of the adults above 18 years old as requested by GoFund me:

1) Hazem A. M. ElBaz

2) Hayat M.F. Abu Taha

3) Muneer A. M. ElBaz

4) Omar A. M. ElBaz

5) Helmi S.M. Zeyad

6) May AbdelWahab Youssef Meqdad

7) Safaa M.K. AlBaz