No food we can afford: help Gaza families

Hi, I'm Salman Zaheer, 30, from Gaza. Please don't scroll past. The ceasefire that began in October 2025 is still holding on paper but for the families I support, it has not brought safety, and it has not brought enough food. Strikes still come. Homes are still being demolished. And in the last few months, the one thing that was finally improving aid has started to disappear again.

The ceasefire is not peace. And right now it is slipping backwards.

Earlier this year, after relief crossings reopened, aid finally increased and the worst of the hunger was pushed back for the first time in years.

We dared to breathe. But that fragile progress is now being reversed: funding cuts are forcing aid groups to scale back food and clean water, and renewed regional tensions have repeatedly shut Gaza's crossings most recently sealing them again this June. For weeks, nearly all supplies have had to squeeze through a single overcrowded crossing.

The result on the ground is brutal and simple: food and medicine exist in the markets, but families cannot afford them. Prices are still around 235% higher than before the war. A bag of flour, clean water, basic medicine — all out of reach for people who have already lost everything. And now it is summer. The heat is relentless, water systems are broken and blocked from repair, wastewater floods the camps, and disease spreads through tents that were never built to last this long.

The current ground reality (UN OCHA & UNRWA, June 2026):

• Crossings repeatedly closed or restricted; aid entering Gaza far below what's needed, funnelled through one congested crossing.
• Food prices roughly 235% above pre-war levels — supplies exist but families can't pay for them.
• Aid agencies cutting food and water distributions because of funding shortfalls.
• A severe water and health crisis: damaged water infrastructure, blocked repairs, summer heat, and spreading disease across overcrowded shelters.
• Over two million people displaced, most still living in makeshift tents amid the ruins of homes, schools and clinics.

These are not numbers. They are real families parents skipping meals so their children can eat, elders without their medicine, kids who have known nothing but war. They have names, stories, and stubborn hope. They deserve more than to barely survive.

I started this the personal way no bureaucracy, no middlemen. I know these families. I speak to them regularly, verify what they need myself, and make sure every penny reaches them directly.

The families we are supporting The list keeps growing as more families reach out in desperation. We now support over 170 people across a rising number of households (we began with 16 families / 159 people; more join almost every week). Among them: Ahmed Zaheer & family (8), Saleem Zaheer & family (7), Eman Zaheer & family (5), Mahmoud Salman & family (10), Zacharia Awad & family (6), Sara Odeh & family (9), Salima Hamdan & family (4), Shan Saleh & family (11), Khaled Zaheer & family (12), Awaisif Al Najjar & family (7), Aladin Shaheen & family (13), Zania Mansour & family (6), Abuthaher Mousa & family (10), Zena Abulouf & family (8), Mena Hammad & family (9), Hadeel & Omar Al Khatib & family (14), and growing.

Every one of them is counting on this campaign to get through the coming weeks.

Where your donation goes the urgent priorities right now Your support goes directly to four life-saving needs, adapted to the blockade and the summer crisis:

• Emergency food: flour, rice, lentils, oil and protein for families who can no longer afford market prices.
• Clean water, medicine & hygiene: safe drinking water, urgent medicines, and hygiene kits to hold back the disease spreading through the camps.
• Shelter & protection: tarps, sheeting and shade to repair tents battered by months of exposure and summer heat.
• Relocation & dignity support: transport to safer areas and basic essentials so families can simply hold on.

What you can do right now

• Donate: any amount matters. $20 covers food for a family, $50 buys medicine, $150 repairs a shelter. Larger gifts let us plan ahead through the uncertainty.
• Share widely: post this on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, email, everywhere. Quiet campaigns die. Your share genuinely saves lives.
• Champion a family: pick one from the list, share their story, and fundraise specifically for them. Message me directly and I'll send you their details.

The world has moved its attention elsewhere. These families have not moved — they are still here, still enduring, still hoping. You found this page for a reason. Please don't leave without helping.

Together we can turn survival into a beginning again.

With deepest gratitude and unwavering hope, Salman Zaheer