I first met Sabr in 2008 when I came to Gaza on board the Karama (Dignity) boat organised by the Free Gaza Movement. Sabr was living in Beit Hanoun and was running the Local Initiative. Local Initiative supported impoverished families, widows, unemployed youth and ran psychosocial activities for children.
Sabr also coordinated International Solidarity Movement and Free Gaza Movement volunteers - including me - enabling us to directly stand in solidarity with families, farmers and fisher folk trying to live their lives and access sustenance under daily Israeli army gunfire and harassment.
Sabr also volunteered with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, collecting testimony and evidence of war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead and other military incursions since. I was a medical rescue volunteer with ambulances throughout this war on Gaza and we worked together closely and have remained in touch ever since.
Sabr in 2009, volunteering for PCHR
International solidarity volunteers supporting Farmers in Khozaa
Sabr and his family have been displaced multiple times since October 2023. Everywhere he goes, he and his family initiate support for the families they are living with through donations from friends outside of Gaza. They use this money to cook communal meals, run workshops for children, and distribute resources to people who have lost everything.
Workshop for refugee children
Sabr and family making bread for refugees in Khan Younis
Mujaddarah (rice and lentils) and salad meal for refugees
In February Sabr was praying in Al Aqsa hospital when it was bombed by an Israeli warplane. He was struck and lost a leg and now moves around on crutches, his body containing shrapnel, and experiencing daily pain and discomfort. Treatment has been arranged for him in Qatar but he like over 25,000 injured Palestinians with treatment options organised for them outside of Gaza are not being permitted to leave.
Sabr in hospital
Sabr in Beit Lahiya
Now living in a displaced peoples camp in Beit Lahiya, Sabr is asking for your solidarity to support and feed 26 families, most of whom are living in tents.
Food prices have skyrocketed, but meat and vegetables can still be bought in local markets. A kilo of meat costs 180 shekels (£38), a kilo of rice or a portion of bread now cost 20 shekels (£4), a kilo of onions is 30 shekels (£6.30). The economy has mostly collapsed, people cannot work, homes and workplaces have been destroyed, and they have limited or no means to financially support themselves.
Water scarcity is also a desperate issue. People mending and repairing wells and water systems have been targeted by the Israeli army and killed. Temperatures reach 38 degrees in July and August. People are walking up to ten kilometers for drinking water and in many areas in the central part of Gaza, all that is available is saline and it is harmful to drink. A liter of water in the market costs $1.
The money we raise will be sent to Sabr directly via Western Union as this is still functioning in Gaza and will go directly towards meals, water, materials for psychosocial workshops for young people and for what families need (nappies, sanitary products, soap etc).
Sabr's daughter Rugghad running a psychosocial support session for refugee children
This initiative is important as it enables agency, dignity and solidarity for and between Palestinians in Gaza, building even stronger bonds and care between themselves than were already thriving before.
It also supports families and communities to stay on their land and keep their sumoud (steadfastness and resilience) up in the face of genocide.
Please give generously! Thankyou for your solidarity ❤️🔥