Help to save and support my family

This is Hamdi Khalil, a medical equipment engineering graduate who just finished his university studies a month before the war, trying to find a peaceful way for his family. With great sadness. I am reaching out today for help getting me and my family out of Gaza to Egypt Being the oldest son of thirteen family members, I have always had many responsibilities.

During this war in Gaza, I had to add other huge responsibilities to my list, such as evacuating my family members from Gaza to the south by walking down Salah Al-Din Street to the Nuseirat and then to Deir Al-BaIah and finding the next place that might be safer to move my family. Then finally to Rafah, which is no longer safe, and the threat has reached it. The war in Gaza I am writing the story of our family 7 months after the war, which has entered the 8th month.

To date, more than 100,000 civilians have been killed or seriously injured, and more than two million civilians have been displaced from their homes to live on street corners, roads, public places, and shopping malls. On behalf of my family, we have paid to change our place of residence 7 times since October 2023. We left our beautiful and warm home due to the crazy airstrikes and ground fighting that targeted our home caused severe damage to it and to the neighbourhoods around us.

The feeling of insecurity may be annoying, but it's fatal in Gaza, where you have no doubt that you could be the next person killed at the click of a second. Moreover, there is nothing left in the city: no schools and universities, no hospitals, no mosques, no churches, and no services. It has become a soulless ghost town.

My family:

As we mentioned, I am a graduate of medical equipment engineering and have taken many courses in my field. I used to work as a volunteer in hospitals in the areas to which I was displaced, such as Al-Shifa Hospital, which became a deserted, black, charred place containing nothing but the bodies and remains of martyrs. I was planning to travel outside the country to complete my studies and get a job, and now all my concern is to save my family and get out of Gaza.

My father is a simple government employee who has not received his salary for 6 months since the beginning of the war. The oldest and only son of my elderly grandparents and his sister has special needs. He is the sole breadwinner for them and his family members, and he aspires to secure their basic needs for life and live in a safe environment.

My married sister has 3 daughters, the oldest is 4 years old and the youngest is 1 year old. One of them, her oldest daughter, suffers of retinoblastoma (An eye tumour) and needs treatment abroad because the hospitals are out of service, and previously she had not received treatment in Gaza.

Before the war, my grandfather had a stroke attack and needed a healthy environment, care, and physical therapy in order to regain his health again. Who will restore my grandfather’s memories of his land and trees that were destroyed by the war and turned into sand? Who will return to him his animals that he raised on his land, and they ran over them with tanks!

My aunt, my father's sister, has special needs (Down Syndrome) and needs constant care and treatment because of a hole in her innocent little heart.

My mother, a housewife who holds a degree in basic sciences, suffers from high blood pressure, and sometimes we cannot find the appropriate medication for her, and even if alternatives are available, her body does not respond to it much.

My brother Abdullah also finished his university studies in geographic information systems (GIS) just before the war. He was looking for a job opportunity and wanted to complete his university studies. But now he works from early in the morning to provide water and gas for my family.

My sister, Shahad, is an English commerce student in her first year of school. She was excited to start her new school year after finishing high school. She went to her university for only 4 days until the morning of October 7th. She was not yet accustomed to the university roads! Now there are no longer neither university to study in nor banks to work in.

My brother Muhammad, a 15-year-old middle school student, was obsessed with eating challenges and experiments on YouTube. He is now helping us provide the basic necessities to survive.

Now, I have no choice but to ask for your help.You are the only hope for us, and your contributions will directly fund their safe passage, education, and basic needs during this difficult time. Their only chance for safety is to cross the border into Egypt, but the cost to do so is beyond our means. Each member of my family needs 5,000$ for safe passage, which is a staggering amount considering we literally lost everything.

So please help me collect the travel costs for my lovely family and rebuild our life again.