Help The Kamal Family Escape Gaza

Update (Sept. 26, 2024) - Sanaa is doing okay and sent over some photos of her family that she'd like people to see. Those are below. Please continue to contribute even small amounts. Thank you.

Update (April 2024): Sanaa, her mom, her sister and one of her brothers have successfully made it to Egypt. But more funds are needed to bring the rest of the family.

Hi, my name is Hunter, and I'm fundraising to help my friend Sanaa and her family (pictured above) escape Gaza. 

I spent eight days with Sanaa in 2016 when I was a journalist in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She and her family lived in an apartment in a nice part of Gaza City. They were incredibly kind and generous to me, as they were to everyone in their life.

We've kept in touch over the years since then. When Israel began bombing Gaza in October, Sanaa saw her city start to be demolished. Her family fled to Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli government ordered civilians to move south.

Soon, they'd lost their apartment to the bombing. Her brothers and sisters and their families also lost their apartments to the bombing. Five homes total were demolished.

The Israeli military then moved its bombing campaign south.

Now, Sanaa and her family fear for their lives. An Israeli invasion of Rafah is imminent, and will likely be a humanitarian disaster. 

Sanaa and her family want to evacuate to Egypt, and then make preparations to go to Europe. Each of them needs $3,000 to escape to Egypt and live there for a month. There are 25 members of the family, hence the $75,000 goal. Will you help?

Though they were working professionals before the bombing, they've now lost their ability to work and earn money because of the war.

Here are some photos of their family in Rafah, after having fled their homes in Gaza City:

The photos below show the family's Gaza City apartments, which have been destroyed in the war. I visited these places in 2016 and was shown incredible hospitality by their family.

How the money will be used

Here is what Sanaa said:

My main reason for this fundraiser is collecting some money to help my 25-member family leave Gaza and travel to Egypt, and to give them a change, to manage their life from zero.

It was very hard for me to make such a decision, as we are an extended family, and we officially lost all our life in Gaza.

I need the money to pay fees to an Egyptian company to allow us to leave Gaza. In addition, I am going to rent – by my own money that already saved from my work – three apartments in Egypt, to let my family live in once they arrive in Egypt.

I am first planning to finish my family members' papers and passports. Then, I will pay for their travel to leave Gaza for Egypt, mainly in Naser City, in Cairo. I will rent three apartments for them to live in for at least six months until I start my management for their new life out of Gaza, as I have already found work for my brothers, who have children in Egypt.

About Me

I’m a 40 year old public relations professional, husband and father living in Highland Park IL.