Help a mother get her 14-yr old Mira out of Gaza

My name is Hala Khalaf, I live in Toronto, Canada and I am launching this urgent humanitarian appeal on behalf of my colleague Reeneh Youssef Hamdan, a Palestinian mother from Gaza who is stuck in Turkey and desperate to get her 14-year-old daughter, Mira Shraim, out of the Gaza Strip.

Mira is living in an UNRWA warehouse, alone, without any family members or adult supervision. The family's homes across Gaza are now piles of rubble, and all of Mira's family members in Gaza have died. The 14-year-old is completely alone.

Mira's mother Reeneh, a translator studying towards an MBA, came to Istanbul in September 2023 to enroll her son Ahmad Shraim at university. Reneeh was intending to send for her daughter once the necessary residency procedures had been completed and suitable housing secured, but the outbreak of war in Gaza made it impossible for Reeneh to get her daughter out.

Communication with Mira is a daily struggle considering the interruption of communications networks; on some days it is impossible to get in touch with her. Living alone in the UNRWA warehouses is very dangerous for a young girl, who has had fainting episodes, is starving and on the verge of collapse. Reneeh is depending on the humanity of complete stranger to look out for her child, whose life is constantly in danger.

In Reeneh's own words: "I appeal to your humanity to sympathize with my daughter’s condition. I ask for your help, to help me get her out of Gaza, which is a war zone and very dangerous to the lives of everyone who lives there. I also pledge and am fully prepared to provide all the documents, papers and guarantees required for her to stay in Turkey with me."

Please donate what you can so we can raise enough money to fund Mira's travel from Gaza to her mother in Istanbul. I know that Mira is just one child out of thousands who are alone and in need of our help, but if we can just help one child get reunited with her mother, we might be able to find ways to help others. We have to start somewhere.

Any funds raised will be directly transferred to Reeneh in Istanbul so she may arrange for her daughter’s evacuation from Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.