Ahmad's Family — Gaza

My name is Ahmad Ghanem, writing to you directly from Gaza.

I'm 35, and before the war I ran a small gaming café — it was destroyed completely, along with my only source of income. Until this war, my life was stable; I had work, I could provide for my family. None of what's happening now is something I chose — it's simply beyond what's possible here, and beyond my control.

My most urgent concern is my mother. She has diabetes, which means a wound that would be manageable for most people is, for her, a daily threat — without proper care, it risks blood poisoning or amputation. She needs:

• Daily sterile gauze, dressings, saline solution, and iodine
• A medical boot to protect and support her foot (the one we have now is old and barely holds together)
• Ongoing treatment, ointments, and regular doctor visits
• Good, healthy daily food — right now I can barely cover basic food for my family, let alone what her condition actually needs

Public hospitals here are overwhelmed and can't give her this level of care, so we depend on private clinics we can barely afford.

I won't pretend my only goal is to stay here and manage. It isn't. What I actually want is to get my mother real treatment, and for both of us to reach safety outside Gaza as soon as that becomes possible, to be with family who are already abroad. Right now, with the crossings closed, your help keeps her treatment going day to day, while part of it is set aside toward the cost of leaving, for when that becomes possible.

I'm a network technician by trade, and I'm using what little of that skill I have left to build this page myself, because there's no other income right now.