Escaping Genocide:evacuation from Gaza for family

Dear friends,

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Mahmoud and I left my family in Gaza ten years ago due to a crippling siege that was slowly and gradually starving our people. My only goal was to come abroad and find a means to support my family in Gaza, where they already faced a siege, blockade, and lived within what can best be described as an open air prison with regular bombardements and aggressions.

However, in the past few months they have faced a whole new level of violence that we had previously thought would simply be intolerable on a global stage of conscience.

My family was forced to evacuate our ancestral village and their homes in early October. Below is a photo of our destroyed neighbourhood where I grew up, played, and dreamed to leave peacefully with my family.

For the past months my family survived in a shelter in Khan Younes with meagre provisions that have helped them until recently. As the ground invasion accelerated in Khan Younes, the threat grew from merciless bombing campaigns to widespread executions and unspeakable atrocities that are being committed by invading foces. The renewed fear of this forced them a few weeks ago to flee for a second time to Rafah, the last remaining city that has not been completely annihilated in Gaza.

Currently they are in Rafah, where not only are they facing never ending bombings and the fear of the coming violence they will face - but also a humanitarian crisis with no heating, no clean water, no food, and a dramatic increase of disease and illnesses.

Let me take a moment to tell you about my family that faces these horrific circumstances. I come from a humble family in Gaza, where my parents used the small means they had to ensure me and my sibblings received our degrees in different fields such as engineering and business administration. Even during the war, my sister-in-laws who are teachers, have been persistent in their efforts to help children in the shelter receive some schooling so they do not fall too behind.

Let me take this oppprotunity to tell you about my nieces and nephews who have dreams as big as the sky: my niece Sham in the photo below is a charismatic bubble of energy who dreams to work as a television anchor. She already started ‘training’ with videos she would make during COVID 19 on sanitary measures for children. My nephew Elias dreams of being a pilot, so that he can fly planes ✈️ that will distribute candy instead of dropping bombs as he has become accustomed to.

In the photo below you can see the remmenants of their destroyed school which was just down the street from our home, and even now looking at the photo I can still here the echo of how this once a lively place where we would play football in the courtyard.

Let me tell you of my parents, who are the precious gems heading our family. My mother, a village woman who is illiterate, has worked in the markets of Khan Younes for the past 40 years to save enough money to ensure all of her children receive their degrees. My father spent many years working throughout Palestine before the blockade, supporting farmers with his endless knowledge of agriculture and land. From the beginning of the war, my parents took all their provisions of flour, olive oil, dried vegetables that we had conserved from our gardens and distributed it to incoming Gazans fleeing the ground incursion in the North. 

As you see, we are a family with stories, with dreams, and no matter what the harsh circumstances of 75 years of occupation and ethnic cleansing : we have never lost hope or humanity.

However, it pains me to say that with the last order of evacuation from Rafah - my family finds themselves in a helpless situation. There is nowhere left to run in Gaza except the Sea. It has become clear genocide is the only intention here.

It is with heavy heart that I ask you all, as friends, colleagues, fellow citizens of the world for your support to save our family from this tragedy.

In order to leave Gaza the price is about 5,000 - 7,000 USD per person to evacuate - and thought it breaks their hearts to leave our homeland, we have no choice but to now seek this as the only choice left in order for them to live.

I am reaching out to you all and asking that you dig deep in your hearts to make whatever financial contribution possible to please let them live, let them see light beyond this war. Every dollar counts and your generous donations will help me make it possible for them to physically make a safe evacuation and settle into Egypt where I will be able to support them.

Let me thank you all in advance for your empathy, and if not able to make a financial contribution, for sharing not only this campaign but our story with others. Every effort, whether it be financial or through advocacy and awareness - means the world to me.

Best wishes and prayers for peace.