Online donations: $4,560
Nov 27, 2024 – Feb 19, 2025

MECA reports that Israel completely destroyed all but one of their Maia water filter units in Rafah, including the five that MRSCP installed to serve six schools. MECA has started bringing trucks of clean water from a large purification unit in Khan Younis to families in Rafah, and hopes to repair the one remaining Rafah unit soon.

Unfortunately none of the Maia units we were able to salvage and upgrade are the ones funded by MRSCP. We only have one unit in Rafah that wasn’t destroyed (the solar panels were though) and we are hoping to get it up and running again soon. We are bringing trucks of clean water from a large water purification unit in Khan Younis to families in Rafah now though. We started this week after my colleague visited Rafah to identify areas where there are families who have moved back either in tents or in partially damaged homes.

Please read the information below and consider a donation to MECA’s emergency Gaza relief efforts. 

You can donate

• Online, or
• Mail a check payable to MECA for “Gaza Emergency” to:
  • Middle East Children’s Alliance
  • 1101 8th Street, Suite 100
  • Berkeley, CA 94710

As always, thanks for your support.

Feb 14, 2025

Going back to Rafah

Feb 13, 2025 | BY: Amal Abu Moaliqe

MECA’s Amal Abu Moaliqe writes about going back to Rafah during the temporary ceasefire to see what people need and how MECA can help. After her visit, we began sending clean water by truck to the areas she visited where families are sheltering in their destroyed homes or tents. 

When we were forced to evacuate Rafah in May last year, it was the most densely populated area in the Gaza Strip. Originally home to around 170,000 residents, it had become a temporary, immensely crowded sanctuary for approximately 1.3 million displaced people from all areas of Gaza. Despite the severe overcrowding and scarcities, Rafah was alive with the dreams of those hoping to return to their homes, clinging to the hope that they had finally found a refuge from Israeli bombs, tanks, and snipers.

Efforts by international organizations to provide services for such a massive number of people had been woefully inadequate. The water crisis was at its peak, and the lack of space made it nearly impossible to find room for tents. Many other challenges emerged, such as the outbreak of diseases during the winter and the later infestation of strange insects, resulting from the sewage system’s inability to handle the excessive strain. You could see kids in the streets and passersby whose entire bodies were covered with these awful creatures.

The eyes of the world were on this beleaguered city. Despite people around the world opposing the evacuation and any form of invasion, the Israeli occupying forces were resolute in their mission to destroy. The brutal and inhumane assaults began in early March, and for two more agonizing months, the people of Rafah lived in constant fear of an impending ground invasion, gradually losing faith in the global community’s power to halt Israel’s oppression.

Then, the inevitable occurred and the entire city was bombarded, forcing the people into yet another wave of displacement. Many sought refuge in Mawasi Khan Younis, despite the area lacking even the most basic infrastructure for its original residents. Others moved toward the western parts of Deir El-Balah and Khan Younis, searching for any semblance of safety.

Now, with the announcement of a temporary ceasefire, my colleagues and I from MECA returned to Rafah to assess the situation in a city that holds a profound place in our hearts. Rafah was a defining chapter in the displacement journey of nearly every Palestinian in the Gaza Strip—a place where we clung to hope, believing that Israel did not hold absolute power over this world. I, personally, spent nearly three months there, walking its streets and alleys until I knew them like the back of my hand. I can still remember every corner, every sound. I wept tears of joy in those streets every time hope filled my heart that we might return home. And I cried even harder in its alleys when the heartbreaking news reached me that Israel had destroyed my home in the north.

But when we returned last week, I literally couldn’t find Rafah. It had lost more than 90% of its buildings, including nearly 52,000 housing units, nine health centers, and all of the MECA warehouses. The main hospitals were fully out of service; others, like Emirati hospital, were damaged or, like Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar Hospital,  completely destroyed. All the electricity networks in the city were demolished, along with the main wells, desalination plants, sewage pumps, schools, and mosques. Eighty percent of agricultural land was ruined, and Al Balad, located in the center of Rafah and once the most vibrant part of the city, was completely wiped out.

Despite the overwhelming destruction, Rafah still amazes me with its unwavering spirit. In the first 10 days of the ceasefire, Rafah’s Municipality worked tirelessly to reopen all the main and secondary roads into the city and allocated land to set up camps for the people coming back. And the people themselves just do not give up. When we arrived in the Tel al-Sultan area, 95% of it had been destroyed, yet the people there had set up tents around what was left of their homes and were doing what they could to repair them. Life is undeniably hard—almost impossible, actually—and it will remain so for a long time. But the only thing that is truly impossible is to uproot us from our land, to turn it into playgrounds and resorts for a corrupt world that sees Gaza as a goldmine to increase its wealth. For who has the power to decide what to do with Gaza? We—and no one else.

Still, the people need support to reinforce their resilience. Every individual and international organization dedicated to human rights and fighting injustice must step up to help provide the basics of life for people trying to rebuild: livable shelter, clean drinking water, hot meals and so much more. There is always hope for the revival of Rafah—and all of Gaza.

Jan 30, 2025

In the last 12 days, you have seen stories from Gaza about the relief that the Israeli attacks have stopped, the joyful reunions of displaced family members, the huge numbers of people returning to northern Gaza, and trucks of food and critical aid finally entering Gaza.

These are still part of the experience in Gaza but each day the reality of the massive destruction and loss sinks in, along with the search for basic necessities for survival.

As you probably know, Wafaa is a longtime MECA staff member who has been leading MECA’s Emergency response in Gaza since the genocide began. We share her words from Gaza along with an update about MECA’s work since the temporary ceasefire began:

Right now, the Israeli military genocide against Gaza is over. It may have stopped for only a few days. We do not know exactly what Israel’s plan is. The only fact we know is that now another brutal war attacks us with hunger, thirst, and the collapse of education, health, infrastructure, and housing.

When we visited some areas after the Israelis withdrew, we saw something incredible: Destruction at its highest and worst levels. Gaza is now a ghost town. All of the familiar landscapes and landmarks have disappeared. People are shocked, collapsed, hungry, and confused.

All of us in MECA were shocked for some time too. But quickly we were able to ignore our wounds, gather our team, and continue our mission with determination. We must continue.

Since the start of the ceasefire, we have provided relief aid and basic necessities for tens of thousands of families from north to south, including:

Water. New “Maia” purification and desalination unit installed in a hospital in Gaza City that will also bring clean drinking water to benefit the families in the neighborhood. Twelve other Maia units provide clean water to families in the south and north. Daily distributions of water from trucks to families in in the north, south, including for the huge number of families returning to northern Gaza.

Food. MECA’s three solar-powered community kitchens that were almost completely out of food before the ceasefire are now cooking at least 10,000 meals a day. Local women are baking fresh bread at one kitchen and we are figuring out where we can open more community kitchens. MECA’s team immediately distributed more than 6,000 boxes of fresh fruit to families in northern Gaza, 2,000 boxes fresh produce in central Gaza, and 1,400 food parcels in southern Gaza.

Other aid. Thousands of hygiene kits, 10,000 blankets, and 1,300 mattresses, diapers for children and people with disabilities, milk, and more.

MECA’s staff, partners and volunteers are working as hard as ever. They are glad to be working in relative safety, with the increased amount of aid. But that is still not enough. Very few people have homes or belongings to go back to. Many were already near starvation. We are shifting our work as hundreds of thousands of displaced people return to where they were living before the genocide. We are moving the latrines, the Maia water units, the kitchens, and the clinics, and getting necessities to people wherever they are. 

We continue to grieve the people we lost, and we are so grateful for those who survived to support the survival of so many. Many thanks for your support and your solidarity.

December 12, 2024

With your support, MECA and our partners are providing warmth to children and families in Gaza who are trying to survive another winter under genocide. Please take a minute to watch this video made by our staff in Gaza to show you how you are making a difference. Many thanks for giving children and families a gift of warmth.

November 27, 2024

Dear Friends, 

We want to share with you this urgent message from Wafaa, MECA’s Aid Coordinator in Gaza:

Right now, thousands of families are sinking into the flooded ground along the seashore, struggling to stay safe amidst the rising waters.

Their tents, bedding, clothes—everything they owned—are being washed away by the water.

It’s winter in Gaza and that means rain and wind.  For children living in tents or houses damaged by bombs, the cold weather is adding to their suffering and threatening their fragile health.

In the face of this devastation, MECA partners and our volunteers in Gaza are working tirelessly through the night to relocate 1,000 families to a temporary camp and provide families with hot meals, blankets and mattresses. But the sheer scale of the need is overwhelming. Please give now for hot meals, warm clothes, and other urgent needs.

Donate for Emergency Winter Relief in Gaza

We know we don’t have to tell you how much the children in Gaza are suffering. They are terrified, hungry, and traumatized.  Many are injured and have lost their parents or their entire families.

Israeli bombing forced them from their homes a long time ago. Now the tents they were living in are being destroyed, along with any small sense of safety they still had, by heavy rains.

Your support has provided food, clean water and other necessities to families in Gaza every day since the genocide began more than a year ago. Now, as people without homes are displaced again by brutal weather, please make any contribution you can to meet their urgent needs. 

Thank you for your compassion and your solidarity,
All of us at MECA

Middle East Children’s Alliance
1101 8th Street, Suite 100
Berkeley, CA 94710