Help the Al Athamna family in Gaza

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Australia

Gazan father Raed Al Athamna and his family need your help.

For years, many of the current affairs stories that you watched from Gaza by SBS, ABC and Al Jazeera reporters would not have happened without Raed’s assistance.

A long time ‘fixer’ in the strip, Raed worked closely with award-winning reporters including Sophie McNeill, David O’Shea, Matthew Carney, George Azar and Mariam Shahin, to help produce their reports and films.

A kind, generous family man with a great sense of humor and a famously cheeky demenour, Raed loved his job of showing the world the reality of life in Gaza and the stories of the brave people who lived there.

But like most Gazans, Raed and his family have suffered unimaginable tragedy and suffering. In 2006, 18 members of Raed’s family were massacred when the Israeli army shelled their family compound in Beit Hanoun, (the Israeli government later admitted it was a “technical failure.”)

Raed and his family moved to another location in Beit Hanoun and tried to rebuild.

But in 2008-2009, Raed, his wife and children endured another horrific siege of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces and had their home destroyed a second time, losing everything, (the aftermath of this horror was captured by filmmakers George Azar, Mariam Shahin in the television film Gaza Fixer: A Chronicle of Survival.)

And now for the third time in his life, Raed and his family have lost everything. They have endured unspeakable terror since October. As the massive bombardment on Gaza started, they first sheltered in a UN compound in Jabalia Refugee Camp.

With families around them being killed in airstrikes at a terrifying rate, Raed and his family feld south to Khan Younis, as instructed by the Israeli army.

But in January, as Israeli forces surrounded the town, Raed and his family endured terrifying days under shelling as they tried to escape, with barely any food or water.

Finally, Raed was able to flee the siege of Khan Younes with what was left of his family and with thousands of others headed to the border town of Rafah.

As the eldest son and with 8 children himself, Raed has to help find food and shelter for 80 members of his extended family.

They don’t have the resources to buy enough food, blankets, or tents for everyone. Each day is a struggle to survive. Raed’s mother is diabetic and desperately ill and his young grandchildren are struggling in the shocking living conditions.

Raed has learnt his home, for the third time in his life, has been destroyed by Israeli forces.

This amazing man is struggling to survive. Raed has spent his whole life working tirelessly to bring you the truth from the ground in Gaza. We need to help this brave Raed and his family get through this horrific time and try to rebuild. All money raised will go straight to the family.

Thank you to everyone for generously supporting this fundraiser for Raed and his family. As Israel’s brazen cruelty continues and the suffering of the people of Gaza seems never-ending, here are some heartbreaking insights from a Raed’s daughter, a mother who is doing everything to protect her children …..

My name is Raneen Al-Athamna. I am the mother of a family of seven members, most of whom are children. Their ages are Jana, 8 years old, Elaine, 7 years old, Zeina, 5 years old, Ghazal, 4 years old, and Musa, 2 years old. I am a graduate of business administration, English, and my husband is a graduate of social service. We are both unemployed. We were displaced from Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip to an unknown fate, where we were displaced from Beit Hanoun from the first day of the warAfter our house was bombed, we narrowly escaped death. Then we were displaced to the UNRWA shelters in Jabalia camp. The school was bombed. My children died. We were displaced to the south of the Gaza Strip. We were displaced more than 11 times. We were displaced to the Mawasi Khan Yunis area, which