Palestinians fundraise evacuations from Gaza

March 29, 2024 1:32 PM

From Neha Gohil in The Guardian: Louz, a PhD student at the University of St Andrews, is one of several Palestinians living in the UK who – in the absence of a separate visa scheme – have resorted to fundraising campaigns to secure their family’s evacuation from the besieged strip. The Hamas raids into Israel on 7 October, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, led to a continuing military offensive in Gaza that has so far killed an estimated 32,000 people. Since the attack, 55,000 donations have been made and 430 funds have been set up in the UK mentioning “evacuate” or “evacuation” in relation to the crisis, according to exclusive figures shared with the Guardian by GoFundMe.

...The student, who has refugee status in the UK, had attempted to apply for a family visa application but the Home Office refused to consider the request without fingerprints. The Home Office said her family were not at exceptional risk and did not meet the requirements for biometric deferral.

In a letter, the Home Office stated: “I am not satisfied that your clients have demonstrated that they are at personal risk as a result of the conflict and need to make an urgent journey, or that any such journey would be particularly unsafe for them over and above other persons currently living on the territory.”

At the time, Louz said her family were living in a makeshift tent in the south of Gaza, had been displaced four times since 7 October and lacked access to sanitation, medical supplies, food and water. Since the beginning of the war, Gaza’s visa application centre has been closed.

... Louz’s lawyer Andrew Sirel, of JustRight Scotland, said: “The Home Office taking this position is extremely troubling. It has a policy designed to allow families to get visa decisions without putting their lives at risk to register fingerprints. I can’t think of a clearer example of an unsafe situation than Gaza. How is this family not at ‘personal risk’? Is this not ‘urgent’? It is not humane or logical.”

posted by Bella Donna (24 comments total)

Sure would be nice to have an effective, well-vetted aid organization to donate to, rather than a bunch of random GoFundMes.

Oh, right. Israel dismantled the most effective aid organization helping Palestinians, and the US budget cut all funding for them.
posted by constraint at 2:49 PM on March 29 [19 favorites]

So we can probably add grifting to the list of horrors or at least one more kind of grifting.
posted by Glinn at 2:56 PM on March 29 [1 favorite]

So we can probably add grifting to the list of horrors or at least one more kind of grifting.

Vultures feed on carrion and corpses alike.
posted by lalochezia at 3:28 PM on March 29 [2 favorites]

The raging inhumanity. I haven't words for it. I have lost so much faith in our leaders.
posted by stray at 5:26 PM on March 29 [4 favorites]

The problem with evacuations is three fold. First where do they go and second they will never get to return, third Gazans are often considered stateless people leaving them in a kind of perpetual refugee status.
posted by interogative mood at 7:03 PM on March 29 [1 favorite]

The US has also been trying to keep Canada funding the UNRWA despite having stopped their own funding (and very likely having thrown its weight behind the internationally coordinated effort to stop it in the first place). The whole situation would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.

Gaza is going to play a similar role in the formation of political attitudes for Zoomers/gen Alpha as the second Iraq War did for millennials. They can see with their own eyes that Israel is not in the right here and yet Israel's supporters keep putting forth excuses with premises that even Israelis themselves don't pretend to entertain. The political leadership knows they're digging themselves into a deeper hole but can't still can't muster the courage to change course. The collective cognitive dissonance needed to maintain all this is insane.
posted by ndr at 7:44 PM on March 29 [15 favorites]

I have access to a community-vetted spreadsheet of families who are trying to evacuate from Gaza. Many of them are attempting to leave for medical treatment. One person, for example, is a photojournalist who was injured while covering the war.

The link was sent to me by a Palestinian American activist after I asked how I could support people in need in Gaza. I do not know her, but she is a friend of a friend. I am not willing to publish the list publicly, because there are people busy trying to kill Palestinians, and I don’t want to accidentally make things worse. If you are interested in donating to people and families attempting to get to Egypt for medical treatment, please drop me a note.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:51 AM on March 30 [7 favorites]

Also, please allow me to voice my anger and sorrow over the new munitions that the US has just approved to send to Israel because apparently the genocide isn’t happening fast enough (is this even sarcasm? I can’t tell anymore). The obscenity of this war is going to hurt Palestinians and Israelis for generations to come. That much is obvious, and yet the men in power still refuse to stop it.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:00 AM on March 30 [10 favorites]

I am just tired.

I have a running list of orgs that are trying to help in Gaza:

You can make a direct donation to UNRWA. It's still tax-deductible in the US.

Palestine Children's Relief Fund is vetted and does amazing work on the ground.

World Central Kitchen delivers food to people in Gaza.

Palestine Red Crescent Society rescues people at great risk to themselves.

You can donate eSims to Gaza to help them connect with others.

Doctors Without Borders/MSF has been responding on the ground in Gaza.

Within the US, several groups are forming a movement to RejectAIPAC.
posted by toastyk at 8:13 AM on March 30 [13 favorites]

I have donated to ANERA, to add one more to toastyk’s list above
posted by bxvr at 9:34 AM on March 30 [4 favorites]

American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem is another one to consider. The Episcopal Dioscese is part of the Anglican Communion and runs the Alhi Arab hospital in Gaza. You can use the link above to get to their campaign specifically for the Ahli Arab or make a
Donation to be used where needs are greatest (more flexible) as they support a number of initiatives for Palestinians in the region.
posted by interogative mood at 12:00 PM on March 30 [3 favorites]

Consider The Alliance for Middle East Peace -- they are helping to get patients, mostly children, out of Palestine and into Israeli hospitals for care.
posted by rouftop at 2:32 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

There were, in fact, zero "verified pogrom participants" on staff. Israel has provided exactly zero evidence of any such thing.
posted by adrienneleigh at 6:34 PM on March 30 [12 favorites]

UNRWA employs 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza. It is extremely unlikely that UNRWA with its limited resources would be able perfectly screen every employee. According to The NY Times evidence presented by Israel to the UN was credible enough that 9 Palestinians were fired. My understanding is that since then Israel has claimed about 450 Hamas militants have infiltrated UNRWA.

However this should be seen in context that UNRWA employees 13,000 Palestinians. Given the size of Hamas and its power in Gaza, the numbers Israel has claims should actually be seen as a sign that UNRWA is doing a pretty good job blocking Hamas’ attempts to infiltrate the organization.
posted by interogative mood at 9:32 PM on March 30

Mod note: One removed. Let's keep this dialed in on fundraising and evacuation issues rather than general commentary about the war. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:52 PM on March 30 [1 favorite]

Let's keep this dialed in on fundraising and evacuation issues rather than general commentary about the war.

then what about the still-standing comment insinuating that UNRWA is "closely affiliated with Hamas", which is a significant enough distortion of reality to constitute disinformation, whatever the poster's intent. "UNRWA is Hamas" seems roughly analogous to Russian propaganda about Ukraine being overrun by Nazis, and the fact that the aforementioned comment is not the one that was removed at least looks like some sort of double standard.
posted by busted_crayons at 4:26 AM on March 31 [12 favorites]

anyway, to keep it dialled in on fundraising, here is the UNRWA donation link. i propose we establish a sort of swear jar, where those with the resources to do so make a small donation to UNRWA whenever someone shits up the thread with genocide apologist talking points.
posted by busted_crayons at 4:36 AM on March 31 [6 favorites]

Sigh. I posted an article that said the UN had received evidence, that the UN said it acted on receipt of that evidence. The subsequent statement by UNRWA’s chief that they specifically haven’t looked at the evidence or completed their own investigation does not make me a liar. As I pointed out UNRWA is a big organization. It does a lot with very little under very difficult circumstances. The idea that a few Hamas members have managed to gain employment isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that Israel only pointed to 9 of 13,000 employees initially and had only widened it to 450. This undermines Israel’s argument that UNRWA has become a branch of Hamas.

It is disappointing that any attempt to provide context, multiple perspectives, or nuance in this situation is met with as hominem attacks.
posted by interogative mood at 9:44 AM on March 31

multiple perspectives

i wasn't talking about your comment in this particular instance, but rather this one, which, based on your clarification, i'm sure you would agree is a gross mischaracterisation (and one which remains many hours after being flagged as an inflammatory lie, and hours after a moderator's visit to this thread).

i would be interested in a list of whose "perspectives" you think are worth listening to, though.
posted by busted_crayons at 4:52 PM on March 31 [3 favorites]

The comment you linked to was written by rouftop, not me. My comment was in response to sagc’s accusation.
posted by interogative mood at 6:26 PM on March 31

Mod note: A couple deleted. Please contact us if you have a problem with a moderation decision. The deleted comment was not a response to rouftop, was not about UNRWA, was not about evacuation, fundraising or aid for Palestine. It was, as I said, a general comment about the war, and we have many threads about that, but not many threads specifically about evacuation and fundraising efforts, so it would be good to not make this into a thread to repeat all that's being said in other threads instead of a more focused post and discussion (for example, the helpful links for fundraising posted here). Re, rouftop's comment, I will consult with loup/other moderators. Leaving the comment is not a sign of Metafilter or moderators "approving" it, it is a question of if it goes against guidelines or not. (Everyone is free to respond to the substance of that comment, but please use the contact form to comment about moderation, and allow the thread to continue underailed. Thank you.)
posted by taz (staff) at 2:05 AM on April 1 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Upon review, rouftop's comment has been deleted. There isn’t solid proof that UNRWA is “closely affiliated with Hamas”. Let's please avoid making unsupported claims in a thread like this one.
posted by loup (staff) at 10:50 AM on April 1 [2 favorites]

It costs roughly $5000 per person for a visa to get out of Gaza and into Egypt, if anyone was wondering at the large sums in many of these GoFundMe pages. It works very differently from the (still wildly unfair, but not currently being bombed) asylum process at the US border with Mexico.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 11:36 AM on April 1 [3 favorites]

It costs roughly $5000 per person officially; unofficially, a whole lot of Palestinians have reported multiples of that number being required for various sorts of bribes and quasilegal "greasing the wheels" payments.
posted by adrienneleigh at 3:45 PM on April 1 [2 favorites]