October 7 - One year later and these families still need your help
A neighborhood in Gaza destroyed, October 2023. Image credit: Naaman Omar / apaimages
In a year since the October 7th attacks and the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, over 41,000 Palestinians have become martyrs, with nearly 16,000 of them children. It is estimated that at the time of this post, the amount of lives lost could be over 118,000 and growing, according to Gaza healthcare workers.
The amount of heartbreaking images and grissly videos I’ve seen since that time are sealed in my brain and continue to haunt me. As I’ve been doing political education and watching people in Gaza document all of this in real time, the truth is that it will take generations for us to come to terms with the indescribable amount of loss of every kind and every by definition, at a scale I can’t even put to words. When all of this ends, we will never be deserving of the forgiveness of the Palestinian people.
Since April of this year, I’ve been helping to raise money for the Khaled and Ashour families, two related families in Gaza who are acutely impacted by all of this. Thanks to your help, we’ve raised close to $60,000 for all of them to escape Gaza and merely have funds to survive day-to-day. However, donations have greatly slowed down, while the need is even greater and the escalation in Gaza — and as I write this, now Lebanon — intensifies.
For 30 days, I invite you to join me on a fundraiser to raise as much money for them as possible. You can learn more about each one and click their GoFundMe page below. I am regularly in touch with them through video calls and Whatsapp and their identities are verified. They are running out of options and I don’t know what else I can do, other than to use my platforms and ask for your help.
ANAS KHALED
A 28-year-old graphic designer, currently in Gaza. His entire home and business was destroyed by a strike, and along with that, his entire livelihood. Anas comes from a family of five brothers, one of which was martyred by a strike, and the other Awad (mentioned below) who has been separated from everyone in North Gaza since the genocide began. Donate to Anas’s GoFundMe | Follow Anas on social media
JANNAT KHALED
Jannat is Anas’s brother-in-law and if you know anything about her, you’ll know that her three young children are her entire world, especially her oldest child Hamza (pictured). Her home was also destroyed during the genocide and in the most unimaginable of circumstances, she gave girth to her youngest child, Ghaith, in a dilapidated tent. Jannat often does not have necessities she needs for her family, with items such as baby milk and diapers costing up to $800. Donate to Jannat’s GoFundMe | Follow Jannat on social media
AWAD KHALED
Awad is Anas’s younger brother, also a graphic designer by trade. Awad and Anas lost their older brother due to an Israeli strike this summer. Since the genocide began, Awad has been completely cut off from the rest of his family in the south, having to move between abandoned buildings for his safety and surviving on one meal a day — usually slices of bread. Donate to Awad’s GoFundMe | Follow Awad on social media
AFNAN ASHOUR
Afnan is the younger sister of Jannat and is a fighter in every sense of the word. Afnan is a cancer survivor and had her dreams after university dashed when the genocide began. She is currently in Egypt with her mother due to past cancer treatments, but she is also trying to raise money to help the rest of her family escape Gaza. She, nor her mother, have any means of income and are homeless, having to rely on the kindness of strangers. Donate to Afnan’s GoFundMe | Follow Afnan on social media
All of the money goes to support these families’ basic survival needs and also administrative fees for leaving Gaza and rebuilding their lives. I realize I am not the only one campaigning for families and how dire the need is, but I urge you to consider supporting in any way that is best for you — we are truly their last hope.