After a year of unfathomable pain and loss, people at the center of the perilous humanitarian response in Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine give voice to their persistent hope.
October 7 is now and forever a day of immeasurable pain, a day for remembrance, a day for reflection.
Today marks one year since the start of the devastating Israel-Hamas war—the latest escalation in a catastrophic, centuries-long conflict.
Today, and every day since, and every day before, champions for humanity have not lost sight of their missions to help civilians survive the terrible conflict and create a safer world for all.
Champions like Ofir who survived the surprise Hamas attack that killed 1,100 Israelis. In the many months that followed, unable to return to her home or her village, she served fellow survivors, helping set up therapy and coping spaces.
Champions like Wafaa, an endlessly brave nutrition coordinator who is working around the clock to keep famine and disease at bay in Gaza, where Israel’s nonstop military attacks have killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians.
Today, GlobalGiving shares Ofir and Wafaa’s stories, along with others from the heart of the humanitarian response in Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel, where innocent communities are now at even greater risk as hostilities significantly escalate between warring factions.
In the midst of war, champions like Ofir and Wafaa are determined to create a future that ensures peace and dignity for all people. They stand as the backbone of the GlobalGiving community’s response to the war, as well as our call for an immediate ceasefire, respect for international humanitarian law, and the release of all Israeli hostages.
– Wafaa El-Derawi, the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) Nutrition Coordinator in Gaza, reflects on the challenges and danger of providing humanitarian aid to millions of people across Gaza. MECA and its local partners in Gaza have been working tirelessly to provide hundreds of thousands of hot meals, packages of clothes, clean drinking water, psychosocial services, and more to communities across Gaza. Support MECA’s critical work in Gaza.
– Ofir describes the impact of support on survivors. After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Ofir was displaced from her home in southern Israel for many months. While displaced, Ofir began working to provide basic services, including education, for community members displaced alongside her. With the support of IsraAID, she has returned to her home and is continuing to meet the needs of her community as they also consider returning home. “IsraAID gave us the confidence and the emotional support to know that it would be okay,” Ofir shared. Support IsraAID’s work to help Hamas-displaced communities across Israel.
– Staff at AISHA Association for Women and Children Protection in Gaza share what it means to receive flexible support during this time of immense crisis. The organization is a women-led, Gaza-based nonprofit focused on supporting women and children. Facing extreme danger from Israel’s military attacks, its staff are working relentlessly to get aid to women and children, including trying to get medicine to cancer patients and others with chronic illnesses. Support AISHA Association for Women and Children Protection’s life-saving work in Gaza.
– Rev. Matthew Dayton-Welch, the Chair of the American Friends of the Spafford Children’s Center, reflects on a recent trip he took to the Spafford Children’s Center. The Center has operated for 100 years to provide holistic services to Palestinian children in East Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Over the last 12 months, the organization has hosted a safe space for children as they experience compounding trauma caused by increased restrictions and raids by the Israeli military. The reverend also shared: “I’ve never been more proud of how the Center is meeting the challenges before it.” The center’s “light burns even more brightly now amidst the darkness of these present days,” he said. Support the work of the American Friends of the Spafford Children’s Center in the West Bank.
– Fatima Mahmoud, Fundraising Coordinator for the Union of Relief and Development (URDA), shares her vision for supporting more communities in Lebanon that have been displaced by Israeli military attacks. As hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have significantly increased over the last year, URDA has remained committed by managing more than a dozen shelters for displaced families, serving tens of thousands of people. Support the work of URDA in Lebanon.
These moving stories come from grantees of GlobalGiving’s Israel-Palestine Crisis Relief Fund, which to date has supported more than 28 life-saving organizations working in the war-torn region thanks to generous donors like you. Please consider making a gift to the fund or to a featured organization to ensure this vital work can go on.
You can help deliver urgent aid to families and communities caught in the war with a gift today.
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