Help Bajes and Laila to Start Over

Hatem Akkila is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Dear all,

My name is Hatem Akila, a Gazan currently residing in Sweden. I am the older brother of Rana Akila. Rana urgently needs support to evacuate from Gaza, along with her two young children, elderly mother, and husband. Additionally, I have a younger brother with his wife and a toddler.

Rana, Laila, Bajes, Ahmed, Fatma, Mohammed

Rana is currently taking shelter in Deir Balah after fleeing Gaza City with her two little children, husband and our elderly mother, following the bombing of their house. Meanwhile, my brother, his wife, and their toddler are sheltering in Rafah. All are enduring catastrophic conditions, with their children falling sick every day.

This is what's left from their house in Gaza city

I tried all possible ways to avoid coming to this measure, and attempted to secure their evacuation through the foreign ministry of Poland, as I am a Polish citizen.

Unfortunately, my request was rejected after a long wait for a response.

Bajes, Laila and Rana

Rana also tried to obtain a visa through her employer's company in Bahrain, but it was denied by their immigration authorities.

Rana and our mother Fatma

Additionally, our family friend attempted to request their evacuation through Bulgaria, but that too was unsuccessful.

Ahmed, Rina, baby Dima, my mother Fatma, Rana and Bajes

Rana's husband used to run a family business, a beautiful coffee shop, which has been destroyed as well. This is a link to how it looked like: Bajes Bookshop Cafe

Bajes Bookshop Cafe today

Breakdown of the expenses:

Expense Cost Per Person Number of Persons Total Cost

Rafah Crossing Fee (Adults) $5,000 5 adults =$25,000

Rafah Crossing Fee (Children) $2,500 3 children =$7,500

Rent Cairo & living cost (3 months) $3,000 per month for all =$9,000

GoFundMe Transaction Fee: (2.9% plus $0.30 per donation): =$1,950

Total: $43,450

As Gazans are not allowed to open GoFundMe, I had to open this account from Sweden. This is why the currency is in KR. I will withdraw the money to my account, fly to Cairo, pay to the agency (they require it in cash!) and wait there to get my family out.

10.35 KR = 1 USD

100 KR = ~10 USD

200 KR = ~19 USD

500 KR = ~48 USD

1000 KR = ~96 USD

1500 KR = ~145 USD

...

My family members for whom we need to collect this sum are:

Fatma Akila, 71, my mother

Rana Akila, 36 my sister

Mohammed Baroud, 37, Rana’s husband

Bajes Baroud, 8, Rana’s son

Laila Baroud, 6, Rana’s daughter

Ahmed Akila, 32, my brother

Rina Mosameh, 28, wife of Ahmed

Dima Akila, 1,5, Ahmed’s daughter

I wish I could pay for their evacuation myself, but I've already taken a loan to cover their expenses there, which has strained my financial situation.