Help Doaa and her family evacuate from Gaza

Hi, I'm Sandra Silva Santos from Portugal. Doaa contacted me to help her and her family getting out of Gaza.

Their names are: Doaa J. E. Alsamouni (reached out asking for help), Jehad E. A. Alsamouni (Doaa’s father), Badeaa H. M. Alsamouni (Doaa’s mother), Karima J. E. Alsamouni (Doaa’s sister), Nedaa J. E. Alsamouni (Doaa’s sister), Jebriel J. E. Alsamouni (Doaa’s brother), Maya J. E. Alsamoni (Doaa’s sister), Eyad J. E. Alsamouni (Doaa’s brother). All displaced in Rafah.

The funds will be used for their border crossing fees (currently $70,000 USD for 5 adults and 3 kids), transportation and other life essentials (food, clothes, rent, etc.). The money will be transferred through Western Union.

This is her story:

Hello, my name is Doaa.

I am a 19-year-old Palestinian, surviving the genocide in Gaza with my family. Before the attack on Gaza, I got an average of 93 in my high school and I was supposed to join university, but I lost my dreams, my home, some of my relatives (uncle, cousins), also neighbors, and my safety.

My father is mentally ill, he suffers from psychotic disorder called schizophrenia, and my mother is diabetic. I had a serious injury related to the occupation army while we were at home. They bombed it and a big wall fell over me and broke my shoulder. It needs surgery immediately. There were no hospitals to go – it was dangerous. Doctors told me that I should have gone to the hospital and now it is too late to just fix it as supposed. I suffer from it every day. They just give me painkillers.

I am trying to save my family from the current genocide in Gaza. With the ongoing assault, resulting in over 32,000 innocent Palestinians being killed, my only hope and drive for survival is staying safe with my family members, with both my parents by my side. In order to survive, my family have made the heartbreaking decision to evacuate Gaza to safety in Egypt.

With your donations, you will save 8 lives from my family, including 2 children. Our youngest is Eyad, who is only 5 years and has the most beautiful smile. He has difficulty in speaking and also was wearing glasses before the war because he has deviation in the eyes. Along with Eyad, I am currently living with my parents, 2 brothers and 3 sisters. The funds will be used for border crossing fees transportation and other life essentials.

I am now surviving with my parents suffering from medical conditions that they cannot treat in Gaza with the collapsed healthcare system, in cold and unsanitary tents in Rafah, with 1 million and a half people living here, a lot of noise, crowding…

The tent we are currently living in.

My family faces death every minute. I am constantly terrified that I will hear of their death. The only thing I can do to save their lives is to evacuate them from the death zone here in Gaza. However, the border is closed to citizens trying to leave. There is only one way for families to leave, and that requires an amount of money that we don’t have. Before the war, we were in difficult situations, but now, along with the war and after our home was destroyed, it is the worst. Before the war we had financial problems too, as my father is sick and my mother is a housewife. There was no income at all, just a little from the ministry of social affairs that can do nothing including a lot of expenses.

Our destroyed home during this war.

Our home is destroyed for the second time. We are innocent, not involved in anything, and yet the occupation Army got in our home by foot in 2008 when I was just 3 years old. I don’t remember much, but I can obviously say that my family suffered a lot till the day before the war, before October 7. We were always in bad situations, but, Alhamdulillah, Allah won’t forget us.

I am here to ask for your support to reach the target amount of money needed to evacuate myself and my family while we are still alive. Besides the constant indiscriminate bombing that has caused us to constantly move from one place to another, our daily struggle due to the severe shortage of food, clean water and medical supplies has not stopped since the beginning of the attack.

These are my eight family members:

● My father: Jehad E. A. Alsamouni (50) – Unemployed. He finished only primary school and is mentally ill;

● My mother: Badeaa H. M. Alsamouni (49) – Housewife. She is diabetic and also only finished primary school;

● My oldest sister: Karima J. E. Alsamouni (23) – Registered nurse. She finished high school with 91.4 and was about to lose her dreams of going to university due to bad financial situations, but fortunately a kind man adopted her by covering all university fees. Her day was divided in three parts. She was working after university lectures giving English classes to primary and secondary students in order to buy books, to get money for transportation and to have lunch. After classes, she’d study for her own subjects. However, after she finished university, she struggles to find a job in this country as everything is bad and dropping, but she is first among her colleagues. A week before the war, she was attending university as a teacher assistant. She was the only hope for us to help in life necessities, but now everything is gone and destroyed. We just got back to zero;

● Me: Doaa J. E. Alsamouni (19) – Student. I was about to join university as I got a scholarship due to my high average, but the war came and I lost every little dreams of becoming a medical secretary;

● My sister: Nedaa J. E. Alsamouni (18) – Student;

● My brother: Jebriel J. E. Alsamouni (15) – Was a student, but left school to try to help with our family expenses;

● My sister: Maya J. E. Alsamoni (10) – Student;

● My youngest brother: Eyad J. E. Alsamouni (5)

Every little donation can make a difference. Your support can save me and my family from death and bring them to safety.

To get myself and my family members to safety, I need to raise about $100,000 USD. The crossing fees at Rafah, at the Egypt-Gaza border, currently cost $70,000 USD (for 5 adults and 3 kids). The rest of the amount will be used to cover our basic needs in Egypt: food, clothes, transportation, rent, residency permits, university fees for me and my oldest sister, and school fees for 2 children.

I know the amount of money is a lot, but I truly believe in miracles and that God can make the impossible possible in the blink of an eye. I pray he can help save my family. Even if you can't donate, please share this post so that others may see it.

My heartfelt thanks to you for taking the time to read this and share it.