Support Ahmed's Elderly Parents' Evacuation from Gaza

Dear Friends and Community Members,

My name is Fatima Hansia and I am supporting my friend, Ahmed Alhalabi, in launching this fundraiser in order to financially assist evacuation efforts for his parents from the catastrophic crisis in Gaza and help rebuild their lives. Although Ahmed is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, his immediate family lives in the Gaza Strip. Please read Ahmed’s parents’ story and consider donating.

Ahmed:

I hope this message finds you and your family in the best of health and spirit. As we are entering the ninth month of Israel’s relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip, I don’t have any words to describe what is happening to my people. I am empty of words to describe the grave situation my elderly parents - and so many other families alike - are experiencing in Gaza at this very moment. I humbly ask for your generosity in supporting my chronically sick father and mother.

I have been separated from them since 2014 when I was granted political asylum after experiencing four brutal Israeli bombardments.

My father, Abd Al Hafefez Alhalabi, is 78 years old and has a history of health issues. He had open-heart surgery in 2015, and since that time, suffers from Diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney problems. My mother, Salwi Alhalabi, is 77 years old and is the primary caretaker for my father.

Before October 7, my parents lived in a modest apartment in Gaza City. Times were rough and even financially tight often but somehow they managed. However, the level of suffering inflicted in these past eight months, has been nothing short of a living and breathing nightmare.

As of now, my parents have fled from their home in Gaza City a minimum of five times. The home I grew up in, and where my parents had built a beautiful abode of cherished memories of us as a family, has been completely demolished by an airstrike in November. With nothing on their backs and in fear of their lives, my parents first fled to another area in Gaza City that was deemed a ‘safe zone.’ However, the incessant carpet bombing of these ‘safe zones’ forced them to evacuate to the South of Gaza and finally to Rafah.

*The Alhalabi home in ruins after an airstrike in November (far left)*

Even with more than half of Gaza’s population of 1.2 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, there is literally no safe zone and any moment can be someone’s last. The most recent leg of my parents’ journey forced them out of Rafah to Deir Al Balah and on to Zawayda, a neighborhood in Southern Rafah.

Due to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid including cutting off electricity and the cellular network, I am unable to consistently communicate with my parents on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, I live in a blanket of unknown that causes me to be in a perpetual state of anxiety and fear for their well-being. I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. I cannot complete any task.

The last we spoke, both of them were living in makeshift tents in Southern Rafah with little to no access to basic necessities such as nutritious food, clean water, medicine, adequate clothing, bedding and so forth.

With a famine looming in the Gaza Strip, the little sustenance they have access to is canned food. Clean water has become so scarce that people in Gaza are resorting to drinking water from puddles of water from the ground. It is too painful to describe how I felt when a dear friend of mine - who graciously keeps an eye out for my parents - sent me a photo of my elderly parents bending down to the ground to simply get a sip of fresh rainwater earlier this month. I have no words.

Amidst this apocalyptic crisis, it is impossible for my father to take medications for his chronic health conditions. Israel has decimated the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip that healthcare services - hospitals, doctor’s offices, pharmacies - are not available.

We, Gazans, have lived through many Israeli bombardments but never before have we experienced such deep and personal trauma and loss. I have lost approximately 80 immediate and extended family members who were indiscriminately killed by airstrikes. I pray that my aged parents are not the next victims.

I humbly ask for your generosity in supporting my elderly parents’ evacuation to safety and a life of dignity. Your contribution, no matter the amount, will help us achieve our goal and make a meaningful impact to humanity.

Breakdown of Costs

I value transparency. Below, please find what expenses the funds will be used for: