A thank you & an update, from team member Mohammed Abujayyab... 

I am writing this update while trying to reach family and relatives that are being displaced from Maghazi Camp this morning, after it was marked as a red zone by the Israeli army. There are almost 80 thousand people in our camp that is effectively almost a square mile. Only half of these people are the ones that lived there before the Israeli war on Gaza started.

These conditions are not stopping us from trying to continue our efforts, especially after the severe lack of access to cash in Gaza. THANK YOU for your support, solidarity and trust in making that possible these past months.

Since May, it's been really difficult to get money to people to spend on their very basic needs of food, shelter, and other things that we can't account for given the extreme conditions this war is putting them up against. The majority of our efforts today are pouring towards providing some level of liquidity using cash-adjacent forms since NIS/USD/JOR are not widely accessible given the intentional targeting of liquidity in Gaza (reported by Mizan Human Rights Center).

Thanks to our collective efforts, we have reached our 100k goal officially this week. We are in the process of sending the remaining funds from this campaign (about 30k) in addition to some other resources we have gathered (making close to 50k total) in 8-10k weekly batches. Our hope is to raise this to 100k if possible in upcoming weeks. We are going to extend this campaign to facilitate this effort, as we also seek other dedicated channels to fund this pool of liquidity for people in Gaza.

In recent weeks, we have been using Cryptocurrency and mobile bank applications to mobilize the resources. These cash alternatives have provided lower exchange rates, dropping from 25-30% to hover around 10%. That downward pressure has a huge impact on people's access to external transfers and to exchanging them to forms through which they can access basic necessities. We are hoping that this approach will encourage merchants to use other forms - like dollar-based cryptocurrencies to receive payments, which would mobilize more forms of liquidity to address the current shortage.

Thank you again, for your solidarity, trust, and support. It continues to be a critical lifeline for the people in our network on the ground in Gaza.

Dear supporters,

Layla here to share a bit more the Gaza Mutual Aid Support Network, and a few updates regarding these much needed funds you have been helping us raise.

I became involved in this effort as a fundraising support to my dear friend Mohammed Abujayyab, who was raised in Gaza. This network was built by him and his friends from Gaza beginning in 2014. In 2021, I was invited to support them in raising funds while Gaza was being bombed, and have continued to support in a similar capacity since, whenever invited to do so.

This network is completely created & determined by the Ghazzawi people who built & continue to run it. They know best what is needed & how to circulate it throughout their communities to fulfill the needs as they shift.

One reason my friend asked me to help with this in recent months is because getting cash into Gaza since the genocide began in October is INCREDIBLY difficult & time consuming. It requires all the relationships one can leverage on the ground & creative ways of channeling cash aid when all traditional avenues have been destroyed. Essentially, it is a full time job in and of itself. This leaves the critical work of actually raising the funds, to us.

Unfortunately, in the past couple weeks, it has become nearly impossible to find anymore cash avenues in Gaza. Fear not though - we are still getting these funds where they need to be, and trust me - they are still needed more than ever.

For now, the funds may be redirected to recent evacuees in Egypt & elsewhere, Ghazzawi organizers doing critical work in their own communities, and other such efforts that give resources back to Gazan people not contingent on actual cash on the ground.

As soon as new sources for direct cash on the ground become available again, they will be the number one priority.

Please, continue to share & boost this effort. There is infinite need and very few avenues for direct cash aid run by and for Ghazzawi people - who will always have the closest pulse on where funds are most needed & how to leverage them for life-giving possibilities in these dire times.

givebutter.com/c/river2sea

With love and gratitude,

Layla

Dear folks,

Thank you for continuing to pour into our collective fund for folks trying to survive every day across Gaza. 

Inspired by the MANY of you who have taken it upon yourself to run your own raffles & sales to support this effort, I have enabled a new feature here to reflect your contributions & goals.

If you are running a raffle or fundraiser:

- Go to the "Join a Team" button. You will be given the option to create your own team and name it whatever you would like.

- Make a profile & set a goal (if you want)

If you are supporting a specific raffle or fundraiser:

- You can press the "Join a Team" or "Fundraise" button and become a member of the team that you belong to. Your donations will automatically be tallied as part of your team's effort.

- Or, when you make a donation, you can simply "credit" your donation to the applicable team so it is reflected in their fundraising goal.

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These tools are not necessary to support this work, but it may be a motivating way to acknowledge and organize your efforts, and inspire others to follow likewise.

Thanks to the many of you who have already completed fundraisers without this feature ❤️ we could not do this without you and we deeply appreciate your trust, energy, and love. If your effort is ongoing, you are still welcome to make a team and send me a note about your prior donations and I will try to retroactively attribute it to your name!

Love, Layla & the Gaza Mutual Aid Support Network 

A blessed Ramadan to all observing. May this holy month usher liberation and deep healing to Gaza and all the aching places across our earth, from Palestine to Sudan, Haiti, and your very own neighborhoods. 

We wanted to share a bit more about where your funds have been going... 

Thus far, over $30k has already hit the ground supporting local factories and families to meet their daily needs.

In the early days, we were supporting various community initiatives to feed people, cloth people, and support pregnant and postpartum mothers, specifically. Here are some photos from the children's clothing factory we helped get off its feet early along.

Since then, we have moved towards more direct assistance to families, based on the expression of needs on the the ground. We respect the self-determination of individual families to put resources to use in the way that will most support them from moment to moment, and will be prioritizing that forward, adhering their feedback.

Thus far, this has meant direct funds to over 150 different families in need, as well as the community initiatives we supported early along.

It takes time to transfer the funds from givebutter to Gaza, and we have been able to send about 5k per week as it comes in. The rest of the money you have contributed is already in process of arrival! It is a never ending chain of effort from Gazan friends in diaspora and on the ground to make sure the money gets where it needs to be.

THANK YOU for continuing to pour into it.

The above is a simple summary of our internal auditing process (in Arabic), which ensures more detailed tracking and ongoing accountability within our network. Please know that while we do not do a lot of visual documentation, we are indeed getting every penny of your funds to who needs it. The direct nature of assistance makes documentation hard, and to be honest, we respect the dignity and privacy of the people of Gaza too much to ask.

We will likely raise the goal until the genocide ends, as the needs are continual.  Your generosity is particularly appreciated through Ramadan. Our hope is to make family's lives possible during this holy month and the continued escalation of violence, so please keep it coming!

Every donation is received with love and hope for our cultivation of cultures of liberatory care and a more life-affirming world forward inshallah.

Thank you also to all the people who keep sharing and boosting this effort. Auction might be our next step once we have a moment to get it off its feet, so stay tuned for that, and let us know if you have any valuable items you would like to add.

Your trust and generosity mean so much to us.

To a FREE PALESTINE...

Salaam everyone!

Thank you so much for all your generous support and for continuing to share this effort. We are working on some proper updates for you soon inshallah, but I want you to know that every week, your funds are going through to Gaza in installments of 2-3k. It is quite a task to figure out how to get the money on the ground given conditions, but our Gazan friends are resourceful and determined and finding ways to send it through consistently, lhamdillah! We have already sent $11,000, and we will continue to send more each week.

This week, our funds went to a small clothing factory providing clothing thru the harsh winter to displaced families, and to another group providing for the needs of pregnant mothers. We have also been sending to families with specific needs throughout the time, of which many new ones constantly emerge, as you could imagine.

Thank you for continuing to send and support! It is deeply appreciated.

More updates soon... 

There are many ways to help and much ongoing help needed! 

Some ways you can become a more proactive supporter:

💸 Donate a service or item of value towards our virtual auction.

💸 Do a fundraiser in your local community and share the proceeds here.

💸 Commit a portion of your monthly sales to this mutual aid fund.

💸 Recruit your employer, a sponsor, or a person with the means to match our donations for a certain period of time.

💸 Commit to monthly donations instead of a one-time donation.

💸 Share this campaign via email and text to your close communities, and uplift it once a week or more on your social media platforms and elsewhere.