Families in Gaza have been enduring unimaginable suffering since October. Many have been forced to flee their homes – sometimes multiple times – as they search for food, water and relative safety.
Islamic Relief’s staff and partners on the ground are facing many of the same challenges as the communities they support. Staff have expressed feeling helplessness, as their tireless efforts to assist families are dwarfed by the enormous needs that they are unable to meet while Israel’s attacks and restrictions on aid continue.
The dangerous situation has forced Islamic Relief to suspend the majority of our regular programming in Gaza. Instead, we have been supporting communities however we can and whenever it is safe to do so by distributing food and water to shelters, providing essential supplies to hospitals and handing out items to help keep displaced families warm in winter.
We have managed to maintain our Orphan Sponsorship Programme, which has continued to provide vulnerable families with an income, now needed more desperately than ever, to help meet their basic needs.
Here, 2 of the families we’re supporting through this crisis share their stories.
A family in limbo
School is no longer a place to learn for Rawa’s children. The classroom has become their home, the place where they eat, drink, sleep and pray for safety.
Mohammed, Osama, Anwar, Ala and their mother share this space with other families, all trying to keep warm without blankets and get along with each other in incredibly challenging circumstances.
Sometimes, the children can escape to the playground, forgetting for a moment the enormous stress they’re carrying as they escape into play. For Rawa, these moments bring no respite as she has gotten used to keeping her children with her at all times, terrified for their safety.
Rawa also worries about the spread of disease in the crowded school, with so many people sharing bathrooms, and difficulties keeping clean without easy access to water. Some of her children already contracted hepatitis, but fortunately they have recovered.
These days, the family spends their lives in waiting. Waiting for water to arrive at the school, waiting in long lines for their turn to use the bathroom. Waiting for an end to this situation so the children can resume their education.
Rawa does all she can to keep her children motivated, she teaches them short verses from the Qur’an and has them help with errands, such as collecting water so she can do laundry.
The family has a small supply of gas for cooking, but Rawa tries to use it only when necessary. Instead, she has learned how to cook over an open fire and invent new dishes from the canned food the family receives.
With the sponsorship money from Islamic Relief, Rawa bought honey and fruit for her children. Children cannot grow up healthily eating canned food alone and, though expensive and hard to come by, these items can make all the difference to a child’s physical as well as mental wellbeing.
Uprooted time and again
Mohammed’s family was forced to flee their home after their neighbourhood came under intense shelling. Flying glass cut Mohammad’s hand, but the family escaped with their lives and sought shelter in a nearby school.
Conditions were so dire that the family chose to return home, only to be met with an order to evacuate shortly after. With no other option, they made their way to another school.
There, amid overcrowding and insufficient facilities, Mohammed fell ill. The family headed to a relative’s home, but their respite was brief as they were ordered to evacuate once again.
Taking only a few mattresses and blankets salvaged from their bombed home, Mohammed, his mother, brother and brother’s family fled once more, making the journey south to Rafah. Sponsorship money from Islamic Relief made this possible as transport costs have skyrocketed amid the escalation.
Among more than a million people making similar journeys, Mohammed’s family couldn’t find a tent or shelter in Rafah no matter how long they searched. For the first 2 days they slept on the streets, cold, exhausted and exposed to the elements.
Eventually, the family arrived at another relative’s home, joining 27 people already sheltering there. Now settled as comfortably as possible, Mohammed’s mother, Muftya, worries about the impact of the last few months on Mohammed. Missing school, suffering pain from his injury, his mental health is deteriorating, and it is unclear when the family can return to anything like their normal lives.
Faced with nightmare conditions and looming famine, families in Gaza are doing all they can to survive and weather this crisis. Please help Islamic Relief to continue providing families like Rawa’s and Mohammed’s with life-saving support. Donate now.
