As the fifth month of the war on Gaza comes to an end, suffering of Gazans continues daily. With approximately 30,000 people killed by the Israeli army and entire areas wiped out, the war persists, with no sign of slowing down. Israel has transformed the besieged territory into an uninhabitable space, displacing its residents from one place to another, cramming them into makeshift shelters and paving the way for what is referred to as a “transfer” towards Egypt.

Despite the humanitarian tragedies and the Gaza Strip entering a state of famine, 18 countries have halted their support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the only entity concerned with Palestinian refugees in Palestine and the diaspora. This suspension followed Israel’s allegations of the involvement of 12 UNRWA employees in the October 7 operation, an accusation that Israel has not provided evidence for so far. Moreover, Netanyahu’s “Day After” plan includes “canceling UNRWA and replacing it with other humanitarian organizations.”

The public killing of Palestinians and the shortages of food and water have prompted many young people in Gaza to launch humanitarian initiatives to alleviate the dire situation of the displaced in Rafah. They use their social media pages and previous initiatives before the war to secure funding for some food and health assistance, as well as blankets, winter clothes, and even cash vouchers. Additionally, they have launched initiatives specifically for women and children.

Aid Parcels Lasting One Week

Dr. Haya Hijazi, a gynecologist in Gaza, has been displaced to Rafah since the beginning of the war. She tells Daraj that since the start of the war, she has been involved in humanitarian initiatives, attempting to alleviate the difficult situation faced by the displaced in the southern camps. She utilized her Instagram page to secure funding for various initiatives she has implemented and continues to carry out.

“The latest initiative helped at least 3,000 people and included cash vouchers, food parcels, cleaning materials, clothing, vests for children, and cooked meals. Also, blankets were distributed in the cold weather and atmospheric upheaval through more than one initiative,” Hijazi says. 

Initially focusing on initiatives related to women, Hijazi provided as much as possible of women’s health care essentials, which are difficult to obtain due to their scarcity and high cost. She distributed them to women in the tents.

Hijazi points out that each aid package lasts a family for a week or 10 days. She follows a policy of documenting aid distribution through her accounts, which has given her credibility and encouraged people to continue sending donations.

Rising Prices

Mohammed Qishta tells Daraj that he launched his initiative simultaneously with the displacement of large numbers from the northern and southern Gaza Strip to the city of Rafah, where he lives. This occurred after people left their homes with nothing. In his first initiative, he focused on collecting clothes and blankets from homes in the city of Rafah and providing them to those in need. This helped many, but those in need are many too, and reaching everyone is challenging.

“What prompted me to start the initiative was my sense of the suffering of the displaced and their difficult circumstances. I saw them in the streets of our city without any support or strength.” Qishta also obtains funding through his personal social media accounts.

Regarding obtaining materials, Qishta explains the difficulty, as prices have risen by 400%, making it harder for many to get what they need compared to the available funds. Sometimes, he is forced to enter dangerous areas, risking his life and those of his colleagues, to go to a supermarket that people cannot reach due to shelling so he can buy the materials they want.

Supporting Projects

The PIOUS project, a team formed in the United States, mainly consisting of Palestinians, is partnering with another foundation in Palestine. They operate through several projects existing before the war and in multiple countries. However, their projects are currently focused on Gaza.

The project manager, who prefers to remain anonymous, explained to Daraj that one of the most important ongoing projects during the war is sponsoring orphaned children up to the age of 15 with a monthly amount. He added that the team has sponsored a thousand children so far, selected from a very large number. Statistics indicate that there are 30,000 children who have lost their families during the war.

He told Daraj about the various programs their team runs during the war, including “Altikyat,” which takes place in shelters and refugee tents where cooked food is distributed. They also have a water distribution program, using four trucks that travel daily between Deir al-Balah and Rafah to distribute water to the displaced. Additionally, there is a food parcel program, where approximately 20,000 parcels have been distributed during the war with different contents based on what is available in the market, also taking into consideration the shortages of heating and clothing materials.

The team faces difficult circumstances, with the most severe being the threat of Israeli airstrikes that could target them during their movement in the streets. Additionally, the rising costs and fluctuating prices, exacerbated by the war, pose significant pressure, causing problems with their partners abroad. “How do we inform them about the changing prices and fluctuations from one day to another? This causes significant problems, explaining the hoarding and taxes imposed on goods during wartime. We fall into the trap of merchants.”

Humanitarian-Based Media

Many journalists, due to their widespread presence on social media and clear communication with supporting entities, have launched humanitarian initiatives and conveyed them to the world. Some journalists balanced between their journalistic work covering the war and humanitarian efforts, while others dedicated their time and effort to tangible and clear assistance.

Tareq Abu Ishaq, a journalist from Gaza, dedicated most of his time and effort to both his journalistic and humanitarian work since the beginning of the war. “Thank God, with a generous donation from benefactors, we provided cash assistance to thousands of displaced and injured people. We also provided financial aid to sanitation workers at Nasser Hospital, in addition to offering meals, bread, firewood, flour, blankets, and milk for breastfeeding children. We also sponsored unidentified injured children and distributed sweet water to the displaced in the Khan Yunis and Rafah governorates,” he told Daraj. 

Abu Ishaq mentioned that his work in humanitarian initiatives began before the war, but the harsh war conditions played a significant role in moving forward and collecting aid from Palestinians abroad during the war. He built bridges of trust with these donors by documenting his actions on his personal page.

He emphasized, like many others, the increase in the prices of goods, saying: “We were forced to buy expensive items for people to survive, and due to their urgent need for them, we try to save [money] within our capabilities.” For example, regarding the high price of bread, flour was purchased and handed to women to make bread and distribute it more abundantly.

Threats of Halting UNRWA

The situation in the besieged Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly harsh and inhumane, especially since Israel not only wants to suspend funding to UNRWA but also looks to cease its existence and replace it with other organizations, according to Netanyahu’s plan called the “Day After.”

This plan threatens the shelters of the organization that accommodates over a million Palestinians in Gaza, providing food and primary healthcare. Approximately 3,000 essential employees out of the 13,000 in Gaza continue to do their work, providing lifelines to communities that may collapse at any time due to a lack of funding. The importance of UNRWA to Palestinians goes beyond the idea of aid and services; for them, it is associated with preserving their rights as refugees, to ultimately return to the lands from which they were displaced in 1948.