Help starving and displaced children in North Gaza

Hello, my name is Ayla Castillo and I am organizing this donation site for a family of 7 that have been displaced to the North of Gaza, Beach Camp. I have organized another site for a dear friend in the West Bank and was asked to organize a page for this family as well. As I become further accepted as a trusted ally of people in Palestine, I have offered my service in organizing these sites for any family that requests and who is in desperate need of aid. As I am sure you are aware, the ongoing bombings in Gaza by Israel have destroyed many homes, killing over 30,000 innocent civilians, and injuring over 70,000, with thousands still missing under the rubble. The ones who survived the bombing, have lost everything and have been displaced to severe living conditions, facing starvation, disease, and humiliation. Hundreds of aid trucks are being blocked at the borders by the IDF with no justification, while millions starve to a slow inevitable death. If you want to help, donating to personal donation pages or mutual family funds is the most effective way to get help directly to people in need. (Please visit the Olive Branch Project). Every donation will be sent directly to this family who has 3 hungry children (funds will be spent on food, water, medicine, and necessary means of survival). Please read this family's story and donate what you can. This is a pivotal moment in history when humanity and the people band together to do what "our" government refuses to do. Every little bit helps and may be the difference between life and death.

Please read their story below, written/ translated by a family friend:

"Rasha Muhammad Mahmoud Awad, is a resident of the Beach Camp in northern Gaza. She is 25 years old and lives with her family, (the children are Samar, the youngest girl (Muhammad, the older brother) and Ibrahim. There were four brothers, all of whom are married, including one who was married in the war in the southern Gaza Strip, in tents. The war began and her mother went to her brother who lives in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on a maternal visit (her brother is also married and we spoke and has children). On the same day that the mother went to her son, the house they were in, which consists of three floors, was bombed and they all died.

Under the rubble (three floors contained the husband’s brothers and his family, and they all died). After a while, with the force of beating and bombing, the family members that survived took refuge in a hospital close to them called Al-Shifa Hospital, which is the largest hospital in Gaza, knowing that it was a safe place according to their belief and what they were told. They used to spend the night and sleep on the ground. Not long after, the occupation soldiers entered the hospital and took out those inside it, some of whom went to the south, and some of them dispersed and moved with people they knew. My friend stayed with her brother and three children from her deceased brother who was killed in the 2014 war that took place in Gaza, and then he died due to the bombing of his car in which he was with his wife. The children have remained from that time to this day with their aunt (my friend).

She raised them, took care of them, and taught them until they grew up and the "war" came, and they continued to move with her wherever she went (the children are Samar, the youngest girl (Muhammad, the older brother) and Ibrahim. After they left Al-Shifa Hospital, they went to their relatives in an area called the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza and stayed with them. They were being harassed by them after they had spent nearly 5 months this way.

The day came when they had had enough of their harassment, so they moved to their house, which was almost destroyed by the bombing in the Beach Camp, and they cleaned and arranged it, and they (the brother, the sister, and the children of the deceased brother) lived in it, knowing that the place of the house had no neighbors and no electricity. If they wanted to bring water and food, they would have to travel a distance. To bring that. The place is like a ghost town with no one in it but them. And here they are settled there. Of course, the place does not have a network or transmission, and if they wanted to get a network and transmission, they would have traveled all the way to get that.

Not to mention the frighteningly high prices, as a box of water consisting of 8 bottles reaches 70 Israeli shekels (the currency of the State of Israel imposed on us), which is approximately 20 US dollars. Not to mention the flour, as a pound of flour is 200 shekels, approximately 57 dollars. Of course, all prices rose with the "war", and not to mention the presence of thieves. They steal food, drink, and even aid. They are like gangs who seize food and drink. I initially presented the idea to her to open this donation page, but she humbly refused

At first, she refused, but with insistence and attempts at persuasion and desperation, she agreed. She said, “Let’s see what happens, perhaps we can benefit for the sake of the children.” We return to the moment of their discharge from the hospital. Haya, her brother, and the children of her brother who died in the 2014 war, went to relatives in an area called the Shi Radwan neighborhood. Two of the brothers, Thamer and Thaer, with their wives and children, went to the far north of Gaza in the Ismaa Jabalia area, and Rami, Khaled, Asmaa, and Rawiya, all of whom were married, went with their wives and children to the south of Al-Qataa in Rafah and are currently living in tents. Their situation is somewhat better because they are in the south, where most of the aid enters. The media is also focused there, unlike the north, which rarely brings aid to them in the north, and there are rarely media in the place.

There are people in the north, some of whom are unfortunately dying of hunger.

By providing aid to them, we can give them life, and in turn they get money and buy food for them. It is not enough, but it hopefully keeps them alive until the "war" ends.

Of course, they are not happy, that they are dying of hunger, they need you, so do not hold back on them, you are generous, and they are the ones who deserve your help and standing by them, that they are victims of wars."

Thank you very much for reading their story. Please note the language barrier, as it was translated with great effort. Please consider donating whatever you can, every little bit helps, even $5 --- please provide this family with whatever you can to support their survival. Please share this page as widely as possible!

Mahalo for reading and for your generosity and care!

Free Palestine