Dear Friend,
This is an urgent time limited appeal. In less than 24 hours our friends and supporters have rallied to raise half the £16,000 needed to evacuate the Salim family from Rafah to Egypt. Now help us to raise the remaining funds!
Donate now: www.tinyurl.com/imanappeal
Thank you to everyone who has donated over the last 18 hours to help 29 year old Dr Hashem Salim to evacuate his mother, Iman, younger sister and his wife's parents and siblings from Rafah where they are in terrible physical conditions.
For background, Hashem is a young Palestinian doctor from Gaza who we are supporting in our refugee community at Positive Action In Housing. He has been in the UK since seeking sanctuary here two years ago.
Hashem's family's situation is dire. His mother and sister moved four times since October 2023. Their large family home which they spent thirty years building and rebuilding in Khan Younis was damaged by tank shelling in January. Fortunately the family moved south to Rafah, however bombardment continued and people are constantly terrified, sleeping fully clothed, ready to flee, barely sleeping or eating.
Hashem's mother and sister are staying in an apartment with 100 family members. They are sleeping 25 to one room. You can imagine how this has affected them. They are now starving in Rafah despite praying for a ceasefire. Hashem's grandparents are also in Rafah.
His grandfather can't hear and has developed signs of dementia and is struggling with the lack of food. Sadly, his mother and sister are unable to bring them out of Rafah due to lack of documentation. This is heartbreaking for this family. But they have decided after almost five months that they need to save whoever can be saved.
A few days ago, the family decided to return to Khan Younis to live in the rubble of their homes. Hashem's mother told him she couldn't take any more. They prepared by buying tins of food, and water and a hope that there would be ceasefire before the food ran out.
Unfortunately two days ago there was intense bombardment of their area to prevent people returning to their homes and they decided to remain in Rafah.
Things are more urgent now as the family have learnt that "military operations" will take place in Rafah on the first day of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. March 8th.
This appeal is therefore a last resort l after all other options ran out. All funds will be used to support the family to evacuate to Egypt.
Donate now: www.tinyurl.com/imanappeal
Once we reach the target fundraising goal, Hashem will start the evacuation process on Monday from Rafah to Egypt. So please help him save the lives of his family members.
Please help us reach our goal by tomorrow. We will update you throughout this appeal.
PLEASE donate whatever you can and state your name when you donate to encourage others.
As well as donating please share this appeal with your family friends and colleagues and across social networks .
For a list of other organisations to donate to in Gaza, please drop me an email and I will send you the latest list. For now, this appeal is specifically for Hashem's family. As they say if we save one life it's as if we saved all of human kind.
All details of this appeal are verified and checked. should you require any other information please do get in touch,
Best wishes and kind regards,
Robina Qureshi
Positive Action in Housing
Read about our Winter Appeal here.
See our Latest annual review and check us out in the Guardian.
