Emergency Relief

Tamer’s Story

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Tamer is 33 years old and lives in Al-Mansheya, Beit Lahiya, in Northern Gaza. He is unable to find full-time employment and is always on the look-out for temporary jobs to support his family of five. His eldest child Samer is 9, and his youngest Jana is 2 years old.

Tamer’s family live in a very small rented house, there is not enough space for all of them to live comfortably. This year Tamer’s income has been sporadic and is not enough to cover his families rent and basic needs. He recently found temporary agricultural work, however he only earned around US $130 per month, well short of fulfilling their essential needs.

Like many in Gaza, living under siege and unable to secure regular employment, Tamer’s financial struggles have led him into debt to provide for his family, particularly from grocers and the pharmacy. These debts are a constant weight hanging over him.

Thankfully, Tamer was able to find employment in WA’s ‘Distribution of Fresh Food Parcels in Gaza, Ramadan 2023’ project. He joined the project team and was responsible for packaging and distributing parcels of fresh fruits, vegetables, and produce for project beneficiaries. Tamer earned a daily rate of $15 during the month-long project, more than he is normally able to earn. This gave Tamer a boost, helping him to provide for his family while also repaying some of his debts.

To read about this project and its impact in full, please click here.

Tamer’s participation in the project also gave him a sense of belonging, being able to give back to his local community by supporting others in need. Tamer enjoyed being part of the team and making a difference, as it restored his feeling of purpose and value. Additionally, the project allowed Tamer to achieve a goal which meant a great deal to him. He was able to use a portion of his earnings to purchase new Eid Al Fitr clothes for his family, which made his family very happy during the festive season.

Tamer said:

“Without a doubt, the project brought immense happiness to me and my family. I was at a loss, worrying how to navigate the Eid period amidst the numerous financial responsibilities weighing me down. I spent all day and night worrying about how I could provide my children with Eid Al Fitr clothes, just like their peers, and make them happy again.”

He further expressed:

“My heartfelt appreciation goes to the Welfare Association and all their donors for supporting this important project. Not only did it help families in need, but it also overwhelmed our project team with joy as we helped others. I hope projects like this continue beyond Ramadan.”

Here Tamer is pictured distributing fresh food parcels to one of the project’s beneficiaries, Kamal. To read Kamal’s Story, please click here.

Click here to see the impact of this and other WA projects during Ramadan 2023.

* Names have been changed

Kamal’s Story

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Kamal is a 28-year-old resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza; he has epilepsy, which requires constant medication to manage and control the seizures. Kamal’s daily life is challenging as he struggles to support his family of seven. His wife is deaf, and two of their children have learning disabilities requiring specialized rehabilitation and treatment.

Unable to find full time employment, Kamal relies on sporadic income from the collection of plastic.[1] He finds it difficult to provide for his large family. Their limited financial resources make it difficult to cover essential needs and medical expenses, on top of their accrued debts with local shops. Like many in Gaza, inadequate housing conditions further compound their difficulties.

Thankfully, WA’s Ramadan Fresh Food Parcels project in 2023 provided Kamal and his family with four weeks of fresh food parcels during Ramadan. The parcels contained a diverse range of freshly harvested, high-quality vegetables, herbs, and fruit each week, along with a source of protein such as chicken or eggs – enabling families to prepare balanced meals throughout the week. In the week of Eid, goods from local women’s cooperatives were also included in the parcels, i.e., Eid cookies as well as maftoul (Palestinian couscous).

To read about this project and its impact in full, please click here.

These fresh food parcels enabled the family to prepare the healthy meals they had missed because they could not afford to buy many of the items provided. They looked forward to collecting their parcels each week and planning their meals as they unpacked them! This assistance relieved them of most of their monthly food expenses, enabling them to pay off some of their debts and buy medications instead. The children enjoyed the Eid Cookies provided in the weekly parcels just before Eid, it was an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends and brought a sense of normality to their lives.

This vital assistance has offered temporary relief to Kamal and his family, although their broader financial hardships underscore the need for sustained support to families like Kamal’s, to improve their overall quality of life.

Kamal told the WA project team:

“We haven’t been able to go shopping or buy vegetables, certainly not meat, for a long time. Thanks to this assistance, we enjoyed proper meals with chicken and celebrated Eid. I was able to buy the medications we need and Eid clothes for my children.”

Reflecting on the impact of the food parcels, Kamal’s wife said:

“This month of Ramadan was different. Everything we needed was available: vegetables, fruits, chicken, and eggs. I am thrilled. We are grateful to Welfare Association for this project, and to your donors who supported us. It has given families like ours support we really needed at an important time during Ramadan. I hope such initiatives will continue.”

Here you can see Tamer, who joined the WA team for this project, packaging food parcels for beneficiaries like Kamel. To read Tamer’s Story, please click here.

Click here to see the impact of this and other WA projects during Ramadan 2023.

[1] Plastic collection: some people in Gaza collect plastic items for recycling as a source of very low income, approximately US $60 per month, a sign of extreme poverty

* Names have been changed

The Rahman Family’s Story

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The Rahman family live in Wavel Refugee Camp, in the Bekaa Region, Lebanon.

Families living in Wavel Camp face harsh winters of severe storms and freezing temperatures. The Rahman family struggle to stay warm, and worry if it will rain or snow every day, as their shelter can hardly withstand the weather. Water will seep through cracks in the roof and walls, making their living conditions even worse.

The Rahman children, Mariam (6), Yehia (5), Zakaria (4), and Raya (2) sit with their mother close to the stove to try to stay warm. Kassem, their father, is forced to look through rubbish piles for things to burn and has no choice but to burn things like plastic to keep his family warm.

He said:

“They cause smoke and odours that spread through the house, it’s not healthy at all.”

Through WA’s project, the Rahman family received winter assistance vouchers to purchase fuel, Kassem said:

“My family want to stay warm but they can’t. We need fuel to keep warm but can’t afford it. We have the opportunity to secure heating fuel thanks to the vouchers provided by WA. This amount of fuel will keep us warm for the remaining winter season, and we will be able to stop burning rubbish and plastic.”

Thank you for supporting this project last winter. WA again launched our Emergency Winter Appeal – Lebanon in 2022, to keep Palestinian families warm through the winter. Thank you for supporting this project in 2022.

*Names have been changed 

Fadi’s Story

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Fadi lives with his family in the village of Malalha, to the South of Gaza city. Classified as one of the poorest areas of the Gaza Strip, several hundred families live there in very basic conditions. Unemployment is high and the only available source of income is the collection and sale of scrap for a few Shekels. The majority of the population depend on aid to meet their needs; daily household income is just $2-2.50 US dollars. Fadi’s family is made up of six people: his three sons, his daughter and his wife. They live in a small house that does not provide adequate protection either against the summer sun or winter cold and rain. 

The ‘Emergency Food Distribution Supporting Marginalised Farmers in Fitrah’ project supported local Gaza farmers, who provided fresh produce that was packed and distributed to vulnerable families. Each week for five weeks, fresh food packs (including chicken, fruit and vegetables) were distributed to over 1,000 families in Gaza. As a result, Fadi and his family were able to enjoy high-quality fresh food throughout Ramadan. His children were particularly happy with the parcels that they received.

Fadi said: 

“The distribution of parcels came very early, we received the first parcel on the third day of Ramadan. It came at exactly the right time. We had almost nothing left to eat. We were very happy with it, especially my kids. I can’t find work and did not know how to secure food for my family during Ramadan until I received this parcel.”

He added: 

“The parcel is sufficient for the whole week. It has many items that are needed by the family. I will give some of the items to my neighbours, we all live here as one family.”

*Names have been changed

Abdul’s Story

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Abdul Muti is a 57 year-old fisherman who lives at the Al Shate’e Refugee Camp in Gaza City. He was unable to make a living or to provide for the other eight members of his family when his fishing boat was severely damaged in the Israeli military assault on Gaza in 2014. He was not even able to do any other kind of work due to hypertension and a cartilage injury that he suffers from.

One of 120 fishermen in similar circumstances who were helped by the WA, Abdul was thrown a lifeline by the Gaza CBR team in the form of USD $7,500 to perform essential repairs on the boat. With his means of income restored, Abdul was able to raise a loan of $20,000, enabling him to fully rehabilitate his fishing craft. 

His immense gratitude and relief were obvious when he spoke to the project team afterwards:

“This project brought us hope, it has contributed to creating job opportunities as well for several fishermen on my boat.  Now I have 16 workers. I was following up the rehabilitation of the boat to ensure it is completely finished.  My boat has been back at sea since the beginning of July, ever since then it has not missed a single day of work! The living conditions of my family have greatly improved and I have paid back the debts I had. I expect to have the boat sailing in good conditions for the next five-seven years.” 

*Names have been changed

Stories from Gaza Conflict

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In response to the devastating 50-day Israeli military assault on Gaza, Welfare Association has been providing urgent support to emergency services and to some of the worst affected families in Gaza. One of the hospitals we provided urgent assistance to was Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem (the main referral hospital for Palestinians), which had opened its doors to help treat the increasing numbers of patients from Gaza. The following are the stories of some of the patients who were treated at Makassed Hospital.

Yasmeen’s Story:

Twenty-three year old Yasmeen, lost her eyesight and suffered several other injuries during the indiscriminate shelling in Gaza. On the 29 July 2014, her uncle’s home in Jabaliya refugee camp – which was sheltering numerous family members who had left their own homes looking for a safe refuge in the wake of the heavy bombardment – came under attack. As a result of the shelling, seven family members were killed; including her 6 year old daughter Zeinab and husband Khaled. While all the others suffered serious injuries, including Yasmeen’s two other children, Fares (5 years old), and Hasan (2 years old). The remaining wounded family members were then taken to hospitals in Gaza, Jerusalem, and Turkey – wherever there was space for them to be treated.

Yasmeen, carrying her daughter Zeinab was getting ready to leave the house when she was hit directly by an Israeli shell, causing injury to many parts of her body, and severe burns to her eyes, leading to the temporary loss of her eyesight.

She said: 

“As we were preparing dinner at my uncle’s house, we were taken by surprise when an Israeli shell landed in the kitchen injuring my uncle’s wife who fell to the ground bleeding. We all ran out to hide at the bottom of the steps, I carried Zeinab quickly and this is when another shell hit the front door of the house injuring me in the thigh and causing severe bleeding. We were no longer able to see each other because of the thickness and density of the smoke, and I started losing my eyesight.”

Following six surgeries, the doctors were able to extract the shrapnel from her left eye, and to treat the fragmented bones in her thigh. Yasmeen will need more operations and physiotherapy to be able to see clearly and walk, and so will remain to complete her treatment at Makassed Hospital.

Fares’ Story:

Six-year-old Fares was found buried under the rubble of his uncle’s house in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in southern Gaza on 9 July, after a rocket hit the house. He was injured by rocket shrapnel which cracked his skull leaving him in a coma for a few days. He is suffering from severe shock and post-traumatic stress. His mother, Samira, left Fares’ three brothers and four sisters in Gaza to accompany her young son to Makassed Hospital for urgent treatment.

“I heard the bombardment and then saw my sister-in-law running so I rushed to the house.” Samira says, who was nearby in her own home at the time. “We had to clear the rubble to find Fares. He was lying still like he was dead.”

Fares suffered internal bleeding in his brain after being hit by a piece of metal, and was treated at Al Shifa Hospital, where they managed to stop the bleeding. He was then transferred to Makassed for additional care and follow-up treatment.

Shadi and Bassam’s Story:

On 1 August Shadi (26 years old), his wife Asma (19 years old), their son Bassam (3 years old), and daughter Israa (2 years old) fled their home in Rafah Refugee Camp, in South Gaza, with four other family members, hoping to find a safer place to stay during the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire.

However, on their way, they were hit by a rocket which resulted in three of them (Shadi’s sister, brother and his brother’s wife) being killed instantly, while the other five were very seriously wounded.

Shadi and his son, who are sharing a room at Makassed’s Orthopedic Department, both had to undergo leg amputations. Shadi also suffered from internal bleeding in both lungs and will need skin graft surgery on his remaining leg due to severe burns he sustained. Bassam, who celebrated his birthday in hospital, also lost the use of his right eye following the attack.

Shadi’s wife Asma and their daughter Israa were treated at Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron. Israa suffered from burns whilst Asma had to undergo a double leg amputation and also suffered a miscarriage.

*Names have been changed