Dear friends,

I’ll be honest; there haven’t been many good days since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities and the war that followed. So many of us have lost friends and loved ones, whether in Israel or in Gaza, and we are all worried about the fate of the hostages and those in the line of fire. Hundreds of Palestinians are calling HaMoked for help every day, and we are struggling to provide assistance. But I want to tell you about two very good days at HaMoked: the days when over 70 women, men and children, HaMoked beneficiaries, left the Gaza Strip and made their way safely home.

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Throughout the year, one of HaMoked’s programs is to facilitate humanitarian access to Gaza: enabling Israeli citizens or East Jerusalem Palestinians to visit sick relatives or attend a family wedding or funeral in the Gaza Strip. We also assist hundreds of people who are married to Gazans to enter Gaza to live with or visit their spouse. When the war broke out we had over 100 beneficiaries in Gaza.

When the Israeli bombardments began, we began receiving phone calls from our beneficiaries in Gaza who wanted to come home. In past wars, we coordinated their exit from Gaza via the Erez crossing into Israel. But the Erez crossing was destroyed in the October 7 attack. There was no way they could cross directly from Gaza into Israel.

Together with our partner organization Gisha, we worked for weeks to secure their exit from Gaza via the Rafah crossing into Egypt. From there, they traveled six hours to the Taba crossing and entered Israel via Eilat.

And so, after living for weeks under Israeli bombardments, seeking a safe place and running out of food, 41 adults and 31 children were finally able to come home. Several women had to leave their husband behind in Gaza, or their children who do not have a residency status in Israel and were therefore not allowed to come with them. These women agonized over this decision in the weeks until they were allowed to leave.

You can read more about these families and their ordeal in this article by Amira Hass.

The Jewish Talmud teaches that "Whosoever saves a single life, saves an entire world".

We have witnessed so much suffering these past few months, and there is such a feeling of helplessness. So being able to get these families out of Gaza was especially gratifying.

I would like to ask you to make an end-of-year donation to enable HaMoked to continue its vital work. Thank you to those who have already donated. We really appreciate your support.

Wishing a Merry Christmas to those celebrating, and a more hopeful New Year to all.

Sincerely,

Jessica Montell
Executive Director of HaMoked