HelpProtectHalasFamilyNow

I am Hala Fadel, 18 years old, from Gaza. I am speaking to you as my family of seven—my parents and five children—and I are living the harshest and most dangerous moments of our lives. We have been enduring hell for two years, and now we are threatened with displacement from our destroyed home for the ninth time in just 22 months.

Before the violence erupted, we lived a happy life in a beautiful house in an upscale neighborhood. Our financial situation was stable, and we used to help those in need. Two years ago, a man-made catastrophe struck our lives: our home was destroyed, and we were displaced multiple times. We moved to random shelters that lacked even the minimum necessities of life. Our lives became unbearably hard—we went hungry, unable to find food, and suffered thirst due to a lack of clean water.

We fell sick because of malnutrition and the absence of a healthy environment. My siblings contracted Hepatitis A, and my mother has a lump in her neck. The worst part is that we can no longer afford food, medicine, or basic cleaning supplies. I won’t describe all our suffering in detail, but I will tell you this: the youngest member of our family, Lama, who is three years old, has never tasted milk, cheese, eggs, chicken, or fruit. Since she began eating solid food, we have been living under tragic conditions, able to provide only some bread and legumes at best.

Now we are once again threatened with displacement, forced to leave the ruins of our home. Though our house is destroyed, its cracked walls have still given us shelter. Leaving it is unbearably hard, as we have no money to rent another place and we do not even own a tent to shelter us temporarily.

We need your help to survive and to secure basic necessities—especially a tent, a water tank, a battery for lighting, cleaning materials, mattresses, blankets, and some clothes. We lost our source of income two years ago, at a time when the prices of basic goods have multiplied many times over.

In recent months, we have eaten poor-quality food at extremely high prices and bought expired medicine at outrageous costs. We have been living on the rubble of our home in a hazardous environment infested with insects and rodents. Sadly, we could not purchase a tent because of its scarcity and its exorbitant price.

Life here is extremely expensive, extremely dangerous, and extremely humiliating. Your support can help us endure this harsh and difficult period of our lives.