Support Fathi Alhaj's Family in Gaza's Darkest Days

Hello! This is a call for help on behalf of a family in Gaza that has been living an unimaginable nightmare for the past year. As you may know, the ongoing war and genocide in Gaza has killed 35,000 Palestinians and left hundreds of thousands of families in dire need of assistance. Fathi Alhaj's family, like many, has been significantly affected. They have lost their home, car, business, and ALL furniture and clothing. It is a miracle that Fathi and his wife are still alive and with their children: Yamen Alhaj (Yamoon), 8 years old, and Abd Elrahman Alhaj (Boody), 6 years old. They are currently in Gaza staying in their sixth temporary shelter in the past year while they hide from IOF bombs and try to stay alive. Due to the extremely violent and unpredictable nature of this war, their lives are on the line. We must do everything we can to help this family while we're still able to.

In 2013, Fathi came to Seattle, WA from Gaza on a grant from the U.S. State Department with other young entrepreneurs from the Middle East. During this visit, my family hosted him for two weeks and quickly grew to love him. His vivacious energy and caring nature was so infectious. He told us stories from Gaza that we'll never forget, and we were very sad to see him go. As a result of hosting Fathi, I began attending pro-Palestinian protests that summer and was shocked at not only the lack of attention paid to Palestinian voices, but the amount of pushback I received for trying to amplify them. It's been amazing to witness the significant increase in support of Palestinians, but there's so much more needed.

This campaign aims to help cover current expenses for food and basic necessities, and to also help provide Fathi's family with funds to flee Gaza if and when the border opens. Here’s how your contribution can help:

$50 can provide clean water for a week

$100 can assist with food for a week ($350/week due to inflation from closed borders)

$250 can assist with temporary housing ($1K+/month due to high demand & lack of shelter)

$500 can assist with future evacuation & resettlement fees

You can make a donation directly through this GoFundMe page. Regular updates will be provided here once funds are gathered and wired to Fathi's extended family in the West Bank. From there, they will wire the money directly to Fathi in Gaza. My family and I are in consistent communication with Fathi via Facebook Messenger and can pass along other updates that we hear. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to help in other ways. THANK YOU for your generosity and for bringing a bit of hope and assistance to this wonderful family during their darkest days.

** NOTE: This is an ongoing fundraising campaign that began in May 2024. My family and I were able to originally gather & send $5K to Fathi, but the war has only worsened since then and their need continues. If you were a preliminary donor, your contributions have played a huge part in keeping Fathi & his family alive, thank you <3