[Salon] Sponsored by Israeli Donations, a Village Is Built for Gaza's Orphaned Children




10/9/25

Sponsored by Israeli Donations, a Village Is Built for Gaza's Orphaned Children -

The the Deir al-Balah village. "Other Israelis and I are doing this so that we'll be able to say that our hearts weren't indifferent in the face of suffering," an educator involved in the initiative says.

At the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, at a point when it was already apparent that Israel was going to inflict massive destruction on the enclave, Asi Garbarz became a father for the first time. "The combination of the two events was life-changing and gut-wrenching," says Garbarz, 38, from Kibbutz Ramot Menashe in northern Israel. "I realized that I couldn't just sit by quietly."

Garbarz, a division head at the Koach Laovdim labor union and the founder of a Jewish-Arab leadership training program, has proven experience with social initiatives that address fundamental injustices.

This time, though, he felt that he was caught in a vise of helplessness, frustration and shock. "My wife describes it well – how I'm walking from one side of the room to the other, shaken and troubled by the feeling that there's nothing to be done. What I really wanted was to stop the war, return the hostages and remove Hamas from this world.

"But out of the understanding that I had no power to wield influence, not even on our government, I asked myself what I could do, first and foremost for myself and for my family. And as I went deeper into it, I understood that our future here depends on a basic question: whether thousands of children around me will survive next week, tomorrow or today. Whether children are living or dying here, and whether there is a norm that protects them. That's how the idea of helping children came about."

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Garbarz's original intention was to extricate Gazan orphans from the inferno and establish a rehabilitation center for them outside the Strip. "I contacted funds, humanitarian organizations and nonprofits that I'm familiar with, I even got in touch with government representatives. But it didn't take long for me to grasp how hard it is to establish a project like this from scratch," he says.

As Garbarz was trying to breathe life into his idea, he crossed paths with Prof. David Hasan, a senior neurosurgeon and researcher at Duke University in North Carolina who was working on an initiative of his own to help children in Gaza. Hasan realized the urgent need for this after entering the gates of hell himself, in two rounds of volunteering during which he tried to provide medical aid to Gaza's citizens. "There was a match-up between us and we started to make the thing happen," Garbarz says.

Hasan took the lead, but his vision was battered time and again on the leveled ground of Gaza, until it finally rose from the ashes. Last August, the Academy of Hope, a village supporting 600 children who lost their parents, was established in the city of Deir al-Balah in the center of the Strip. There the children receive two hot meals a day in addition to medical treatment and ongoing psychological support.

The village is called an "academy" because in addition providing a safe space for the orphans, it also places a talented team of teachers at their disposal, who create a learning routine in the classroom. The team consists of 24 Gazan women: nurses, teachers and mental health workers. At the beginning of October, another branch opened in Khan Yunis, in Gaza's south. It will provide a home for 1,500 orphans and will have a staff of 50 women. The Academy of Hope is likely the largest orphan village in Gaza, and its capacity will increase significantly in the near future, with plans to open two more branches. By December, the Academy intends to meet the needs of some 5,000 orphans.

Children at the Academy of Hope orphan village in Deir al-Balah. They receive two hot meals a day in addition to medical treatment and ongoing psychological support.
Children at the Academy of Hope orphan village in Deir al-Balah. They receive two hot meals a day in addition to medical treatment and ongoing psychological support.

The Deir al-Balah village, which is already being expanded, consists of five large tents that serve as classrooms. The walls of the tents are covered with colorful paintings, in which the Smurfs feature prominently. The children, who range from preschoolers to ninth-graders, arrive every morning from the nearby refugee camp, which is within walking distance. The children who were wounded or those in wheelchairs are escorted by members of the staff.

In the morning the classrooms are filled with children from first to fourth grades while the older ones play hang out on the nearby sand lot, and in the afternoon they switch.

The meals the children receive are quite basic: pasta or rice, sometimes a few vegetables. Meat and fish are too expensive, and a shower is still also a distant dream. However, the village recently received a donation of hygiene supplies that help alleviate the itching and the skin diseases the children have developed after many months without washing.

Classes are a major part of life in the village. The children are taught math, Arabic, art and science. The school day ends at about 3 P.M., but most of the children prefer to stay on the grounds until dark falls.

In short order, the fundraisers found that the great majority of the donations were coming from Israel. Hasan offers to show me his Excel spreadsheets. They show that of 1,600 donors to the village to date, 90 percent are Israelis.

At first the founders had hoped that the Academy could be an orphanage where the children would be able to sleep as well as learn, but the logistics turned out to be too complicated. So, at the end of the day the children return to the homes of family members in the refugee camp. On some days they are able to return home with a little bread.

Twelve-year-old Nadia (her name has been changed to protect her privacy) is one of the older children in the Deir al-Balah village, and she's also mature beyond her years. In the spring of 2024 her mother and father were killed, and from that moment she has looked after her three brothers, who were then 7, 3 and 18 months. The children were placed with foster families who were barely able to provide them with food, and Nadia took on the role of head of the family to help them survive.

The four siblings were accepted to the Academy as soon as it opened. Their nutritional condition has improved significantly, and with the support of the staff they are starting to process their loss. Nadia continues to be the principal caregiver of her youngest brother, who's now three, and brings him to class with her. But now thanks to the orphan village she can be a girl first and a mother second instead of the other way around, and can also experience something from the world of her peers.

Kids at the Deir al-Balah village.

***

Dr. Hasan says that the village was established thanks to "a coalition of American, European, Palestinian and Israeli charity organizations that we built." The partial list includes World Central Kitchen, an American nonprofit that provides food to people in disaster zones; SmartAID, an Israeli organization that provides innovative, technology-based solutions to communities in crisis worldwide; and Palestinian staff who were trained to manage the village.

However, Hasan is especially grateful to volunteers from Israel who mobilized independently to help Gazan children, without any organizational or institutional affiliation. "I have an army of more than 200 Israelis who do everything for these children," he says in a telephone interview from North Carolina.

On the front lines of this "army" is a small, committed group who until now operated under the radar, and even now wants to ensure that some of its activity continues to take place far from the public eye. Garbarz is in charge of cementing the international partnerships and is responsible for communications. Rina Naor, a social impact entrepreneur and high-tech professional with experience leading projects that promote ties between Jewish and Palestinian communities, deals mainly with shipments of food and medication to the village.

Prof. Dan Turner, director of the Institute for Gastroenterology, Liver and Pediatric Nutrition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, brings vital and relevant medical knowledge in light of the children's dire nutritional condition. And even though Prof. Amit Goldenberg of Harvard's Business School and Department of Psychology comes from an elite American academic institution, he joined the village's support team as "an Israeli who is despairing of the situation."

"I have no background in the humanitarian sphere," Goldenberg notes. "I said I wanted to help and was told that they were missing a fundraising person in the United States, so I took that task upon myself."

In short order Goldenberg found that the great majority of the donations were coming from Israel. "What's amazing about this story," he says, "is that more than 1,000 Israelis have already donated to the village via crowdfunding, with the average donation standing at $140 per person. The larger donations are also coming from Israel, or from Israeli-American philanthropists."

How do you explain that?

"I think that many Israelis feel helpless in the face of the situation. A 'general' donation to Gaza is perceived as dangerous and as possibly ending up in the hands of Hamas. A village for orphans that's managed by an American nonprofit looks like a safe goal, and gives Israelis assurance that they're putting their money into something that really is doing a little good in the world."

Prof. David Hasan. "The enormous mobilization of Israelis gave me the strength to turn the village from a dream into reality."
Prof. David Hasan. "The enormous mobilization of Israelis gave me the strength to turn the village from a dream into reality." Credit: Allison Joyce / AFP

Hasan confirms Goldenberg's extraordinary information and offers to show me his Excel spreadsheets ("We operate in full transparency"). They show that of 1,600 donors to the village to date, 90 percent are Israelis. Hasan adds that the village is administered by an American nonprofit that raises funds across the world, and that neither the State of Israel nor any of its offshoots is involved in any way in its establishment or operation.

On other words, the donations are independent, unorganized initiatives taken by individuals – making the phenomenon even more impressive. "The enormous mobilization of Israelis gave me the strength to turn the village from a dream into reality," he says.

Hasan, 52, who has a 9-year-old daughter, grew up in Kuwait in a Palestinian family that immigrated there in 1967 in the wake of the Six-Day War. The village's creation, he says, was made possible largely thanks to an interview he gave to Haaretz in 2024 ("The chilling testimony of a U.S. neurosurgeon who went to Gaza to save lives,") after he'd entered the Strip twice as part of aid delegations of foreign physicians.

He provided extraordinary testimony about the scale of the disaster that had befallen Gaza (and which has since worsened several times over): hospitals that had become refugee camps, the realization that operations he performed were sometimes a death sentence because of the spread of infections in his patients, the apathy that local physicians had developed in the face of the scale of the mortality and the cruel dilemmas they were confronted with.

The first time I dared to speak publicly about my vision was in Tel Aviv, before an Israeli audience. After the speech, five Israeli mothers approached me and said: "David, we want to help you build this village."

Dr. David Hasan

Hasan's wrenching testimony was intertwined with horror stories about the children he had tried to save. "I remember a boy about 2 years old who was seriously hurt by a bomb," he recalled in the interview. "He arrived together with many other children who had been in the same house. The moment I saw him I knew we would not be able to save him, so I had to give the only oxygen canister that was available to another wounded child, who had a better chance of surviving. He was alone, with no one by his side as he was dying… I decided that this child would not die without someone noticing and crying over him, and I realized that it would have to be me."

With his testimony Hasan succeeded in puncturing the Israeli wall of indifference, in part because he also expressed great concern for the Israeli hostages, including his attempts to gain access to them and give them medical care. In the article he also said that when he immigrated to the United States from Kuwait at 18, alone, to study medicine, he developed close friendships with many Israelis and Jews, who helped him acclimate.

"I am a doctor," he asserts now. "My role is to treat people regardless of religion, race, color or ethnic affiliation. And I wanted Israelis to listen to me. That's why I never used words like 'genocide' or 'war crime.' That is not my role."

After the article was published, Hasan was invited to visit Israel. He toured the battered Western Negev communities that were attacked on October 7 and spoke at a conference in the Jaffa-based Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, in which he outlined his blueprint for helping Gaza's orphans. "The first time I dared to speak publicly about my vision was in Tel Aviv, before an Israeli audience," he says. "After the speech, five Israeli mothers approached me and said: 'David, we want to help you build this village.'"

בית היתומים ב דיר אל בלח

לשימוש המוסף בלבד 

יתומיםאקדמיית התקווה עזה ילדים
The academy of Hope the gaza children village khan younis

מדובר בתמונה של ילדים / קטינים. זהירות מוגברת. לא לשימוש בהקשר שלילי או מבזה. לא לשימוש כאילוסטרציה 
*איכות טובה יותר*
כפר היתומים
יתומים
חאן יוניס
בית היתומים ב דיר אל בלח

לשימוש המוסף בלבד 

יתומים
Kids at the Deir al-Balah village. The team caring for them consists of 24 Gazan women: nurses, teachers and mental health workers.

The plans for the village underwent several incarnations. At first Hasan and his partners wanted to establish a protected space for children in the north of the Strip. He enlisted many partners along the way, including the U.S. State Department, United Nations agencies and foreign governments, and was even allotted land for the project. Then, in January 2025, Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire. The truce temporarily improved the situation of Gaza's battered civilians, but it put a damper on Hasan's plan, since Hamas again seized control of the Strip.

Seeking to further a more local initiative, Hasan and his team homed in on two small plots of land, in the north and center of the Strip, which were earmarked for receiving children. They brought in new partners, but the implosion of the negotiations in the next stage of the deal and Israel's resumption of fighting two months later worked against them.

"The IDF expanded its operation in Gaza, and the areas that were supposed to serve us became part of that expansion," says Hasan. "The coalition we had built disbanded. We failed again."

In the meantime, Israel stepped up the military pressure and blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip. That decision doomed the population of Gaza to acute malnutrition, leaving tens of thousands suffering from extreme hunger and driving child mortality to alarming levels.

Hasan and his group shelved the plans to establish a village for orphans and plunged into the work of providing an emergency response to the catastrophe. "We raised money, received help from SmartAID, and bought flour, sometimes at a price of $80 per kilo [$36/pound]. That flour served the community in Deir al-Balah. In this way we managed to help 1,500 families during Ramadan."

That effort also helped them gain the trust of the local community. "Moreover, Deir al-Balah was then an area where the IDF operated relatively moderately, and therefore was somewhat safer. I marked it as a strategic point and decided that if we ever built an academy or village, it would be there."

That scenario was realized sooner than expected, Hasan says: "At the end of Ramadan I decided to make one last attempt to build a village. I approached the elders and local leadership of the community. They said it was an excellent idea, but that we should wait for the right timing and focus on food at the moment. At that point I met a 24-year-old woman, whose name I will not reveal for obvious reasons, who had significant influence in the community and was enthusiastic about the idea. She immediately understood the importance of the project and its potential, and agreed to work together with me to bring it to fruition. She did this while taking a great risk upon herself."

Once Hasan and his team received the blessing of the community, things moved quickly. "This allowed us to buy land and coordinate logistics with the local leadership. The people we recruited from within the community assisted us in the initial preparations – infrastructure, basic structures, food distribution. We advanced step by step discreetly, so as not to attract the attention of parties who might stop us. As the process progressed, the feeling was that the community trusted us more."

Asi Garbarz, a lecturer and activist. His original intention was to rescue Gaza's orphans from the horrors of war and establish a rehabilitation center for them outside the Strip.
Asi Garbarz, a lecturer and activist. His original intention was to rescue Gaza's orphans from the horrors of war and establish a rehabilitation center for them outside the Strip. Credit: Rami Shllush 

The cooperation with people in Deir al-Balah made the establishment of the village possible, and continues to play a central role in its operation. "Our team is 100 percent local," Hasan says, adding that it's not by chance that the staff consists solely of women.

"Most of these nurses, teachers and therapists are single mothers who lost their husbands in the war," Hasan says. "This is how they provide for themselves and can put food on the table. For them it's an almost existential need, because food distribution centers are an arena where it's mainly men who compete for food under dangerous conditions."

* * *

Hasan was aided by a select unit of volunteers from Israel. Turner, from Shaare Zedek, is a key figure in the initiative. He was involved in bringing biological medicine into the Strip even before the war, through international organizations. Over the years, Turner, who made a vow not to shave until the war is over, forged ties with many Gazan physicians when he instructed them remotely how to care for children suffering from digestive problems.

"Even in regular times there wasn't a single pediatric gastroenterologist there, while with us, just to give you an idea, there are around 20 in the Jerusalem area alone," he says.

Given his experience in this sphere, the matchup with Hasan was natural. "There was an immediate click between us and we decided to do things in a more organized way," Turner says, adding that "I'm only a small cog in the system," but the truth is that with his direct involvement, a large number of medication shipments entered the Strip in recent months, along with vitamins and even 500 wheelchairs that were obtained by activists in Israel's Arab society, some of which were allocated to children in the Academy.

Every shipment we succeed in transferring [into Gaza] is a startup of coordination between eight bodies and countless conversations and WhatsApp messages. Everything is done on a basis of personal ties and in a very Israeli way. Under the radar and over a bumpy road. 

Dr. Dan Turner

"We obtain the medicine and the formula at low prices – in some cases the companies provide them to us at cost," Turner says, and makes it clear that the identity of the companies must remain confidential, so as not to jeopardize future agreements with them.

"Medicine can be obtained, but the difficulty lies in getting it into the Strip," he says. "That's where the catastrophe begins. You know, Israel doesn't allow any Israeli body to bring things into Gaza, so it has to be done via international bodies, and there aren't many who have the necessary authorization."

Prof. Dan Turner, a senior gastroenterologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Through his direct involvement, shipments of medicine, vitamins and even 500 wheelchairs were brought into the Gaza Strip.
Prof. Dan Turner, a senior gastroenterologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Through his direct involvement, shipments of medicine, vitamins and even 500 wheelchairs were brought into the Gaza Strip. Credit: Oren Ben Hakoon

So how is it done?

"Every shipment we succeed in transferring [into Gaza] is a startup of coordination between eight bodies and countless conversations and WhatsApp messages. Everything is done on a basis of prior acquaintance, personal ties and in a very Israeli way. In a circular fashion, under the radar and over a bumpy road. And even that doesn't always work. For example, we obtained a donation of biological medicine that has been waiting for two months in the donor company in Europe, and we still haven't found away to get it in."

Turner wants to downplay the importance of the humanitarian initiatives he's involved in, or at least to place them in context. "To bring in medicine and formula and to erect tents for the thousands of orphaned children is important and very necessary at this time, as acute emergency operations, but that's the marginal part."

Because it's actually impossible to provide medical care for the masses in this way?

Turner: "Because it's a drop in the ocean. Even if all the medication in the world was there, patients and babies would keep dying from the simplest diseases, because the system is barely functioning, because dozens of physicians were killed and hundreds more wounded, because specialists are lacking, because the hospitals that remain are devastated and barely working."

Natan Worldwide Disaster Relief – "an Israeli-based, all-volunteer, non-profit NGO dedicated to helping people worldwide rebuild their lives with dignity after natural and human-made disasters," according to the organization's website – is also involved in the newly inaugurated village in Khan Yunis. Natan will provide preventative medical services. The 1,500 children will undergo a basic intake that will examine their indices, including arm and head circumference, which will indicate each child's hunger distress.

The nurses at the Khan Yunis village will pass the information to Natan, whose staff will work with it to assess the children's condition and draw general conclusions about which medical services are needed in the village. Natan is also assisting in the creation of a worldwide pool of Arabic-speaking physicians who will be able to assist the team with urgent problems that will certainly arise.

"These physicians will work in shifts," says Alice Miller, Natan's CEO. "They will speak with the nurses via WhatsApp and instruct them about what action to take." Natan, Miller notes, has already allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the village, and this sum could increase significantly if the organization is able to fulfill another mission it has undertaken: supplying multivitamins to the 1,500 children in the village.

Alice Miller, CEO of the Natan NGO, which is providing the village with preventive medical services and plans to supply multivitamins to 1,500 children in Khan Yunis.
Alice Miller, CEO of the Natan NGO, which is providing the village with preventive medical services and plans to supply multivitamins to 1,500 children in Khan Yunis. Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

"That's a game changer," Miller says. "It's an available, cheap and effective tool for immediately improving the health, immune system and developmental condition of particularly weak children."

For most of her adult life, Miller – who will forever be identified with the battle to open the Israel Air Force's pilot training course to women, which brought about a landmark court decision in favor of gender equality in Israel – worked in aeronautical engineering. She became involved in humanitarian efforts two years ago.

Getting aid to Gaza, she says, faces multiple obstacles. "As Israelis, we're totally limited. That's why for the village project we're working with an American nonprofit. David [Hasan] and I are going to speak on the same stage at the Jewish Federation in Palo Alto. Until now, almost all the funding for [the project] is coming from Israelis and Jews. It's unbelievable."

We are the ones who are causing so many children, who are innocent because they are children, to suffer so intensively. I'm grateful for the privilege of somewhat alleviating their suffering.

Alice Miller

From your perspective, are the Gaza projects different from other projects you do in disaster areas?

Miller: "Yes and no. No, because our basic ethos is that wherever we're needed, that's where we will be. We help people wherever they are. For that matter, we're also partners today in a humanitarian clinic in Syria. Yes, because there is no doubt that in Gaza there is an additional significant element, namely Israel's involvement in the war.

"We are the ones who are causing so many children, who are innocent because they are children, to suffer so intensively. I'm grateful for the privilege of somewhat alleviating their suffering."

Jerusalem's Alyn Hospital for children's rehabilitation is also ready to help. The knowledge and experience that the staff there have accumulated is extremely valuable for the children in the village, many of whom suffer from severe disabilities or serious orthopedic injuries. "We are hearing about an unimaginable number of amputee kids in Gaza," says Dr. Maurit Beeri, the hospital's director.

One idea currently on the table is for Alyn to examine 3D-printed prosthetics, which are being developed by a company that has offered its services to the village. However, addressing the quality of the product is only one aspect. "Rehabilitating an amputee child is about much more than providing an artificial limb," Beeri says. "As we learned here in Israel from so many amputee soldiers who have been rehabilitated in the past few years, this is a complex, delicate process which requires cooperation from different professional fields. We will try to help, despite distance and accessibility limitations.

"Every child is a whole world, and we would like to live in a world where every child has access to the best care," she adds.

Among the Israelis supporting the village are members of the Arab community. One of them is Reem Younis, a high-tech innovator from Nazareth who with her husband founded Alpha Omega, a company that manufactures medical equipment that's used in neurosurgery.

"I've made a lot of connections over the years," she says, "so I'm trying to make connections between good people who can assist the village. We're all in a state of despair, and the feeling that you're changing things or having an impact, even if in a small way, helps one cope with the helplessness."

Many in Israel identify with that feeling of helplessness. Is it even stronger in Arab society?

Younis: "Every person lives with their feelings. But it's clear that what's happening in Gaza is contrary to our whole world of values. I try to apply the values I was raised with, the values of Christianity. To be empathetic, to help and to do good where I can."

A consistent donor to the project is Marc Marcus, 72, from Kibbutz Urim, not far from the Gaza border. A retired engineer and graphic artist who arrived to the kibbutz more than 50 years ago as a volunteer and established a home and family there, Marcus is involved in several peace initiatives. When he heard about the village for orphans in Gaza, he immediately signed up for a monthly donation. "If I can provide some kind of medicine, even a local one, but one that will be able to save lives or make life possible for people whom my government and my country are trying to erase from the face of the earth, then from my point of view I have succeeded in doing something," he says.

You live on the edge of the Western Negev. Do you feel any difficulty donating to residents of Gaza?

Marcus: "Just the opposite. Precisely because it's next to my home, I know that there are many people there who aren't connected with Hamas and who are being hurt because of me. I am an Israeli, for better or worse, and it's my country that's responsible for the fact that there are now many more orphans in Gaza. And another huge number of physically and mentally wounded children, there's no knowing how they will be rehabilitated. From my point of view, if one child survived thanks to this donation, that's enough."

Nava Hefetz, a Reform rabbi from Jerusalem and human rights activist, is helping raise funds, including from liberal American communities.
Nava Hefetz, a Reform rabbi from Jerusalem and human rights activist, is helping raise funds, including from liberal American communities. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi

* * *

The Israelis who are assisting the initiative form a diverse group. Nava Hefetz, a Reform rabbi and human rights activist from Jerusalem, is helping with fundraising, including in liberal American communities. She is also seeking to bring in Doctors of the World, whose headquarters are in France ("Through them I transmitted a list of medications that are needed in the Academy," she says), and is trying to open doors for Hasan through European politicians she's in touch with.

"We're scheduled to meet with the foreign minister of Holland, whose government allocated tens of millions of euros in aid to the Gaza Strip," she says.

What I love about his initiative is that it's holistic, providing education, medical care and also psychological aid. A complete package. I get around a lot in the humanitarian world. This is something exceptional.

Shachar Zahavi

Hasan also frequently consults with Maya Savir, an author and director of the Search for Common Ground peace organization in Israel, who notes, "100 percent of the people I approached about David's Academy and asked for their help – and not necessarily people from the peace camp – immediately said yes and mobilized. I didn't get one lukewarm response, certainly not a negative one. When people are reminded of the difference between good and bad, they step forward."

Savir, like the other Israelis who are aiding the project, is following its growth remotely. "To see something like this happening in Gaza, in the present reality, makes you rub your eyes in disbelief. It's a great thing that also has a peripheral impact. The children sometimes come out of [the village] with food for the extended family, they're getting education for peace, and the staff are also being empowered there. David is a very ambitious guy with positive energy that pushes ahead and projects a 'we don't wait' approach. Israelis can very easily identify with that."

Similarly, Shachar Zahavi, founder and CEO of SmartAID, is assisting the village. Zahavi notes that his organization, which operates in dozens of disaster zones, has accumulated over 30 years of experience in the humanitarian field ("since the genocide in Rwanda, in 1994").

At the same time, he says that he's doing his work for the village on a volunteer basis, "because I like the direction David is taking it. There are very few people whom I can say have influenced me over the course of my life, and I can say that David is one of them. What I love about his initiative is that it's holistic, providing education, medical care and also psychological aid. A complete package. I get around a lot in the humanitarian world, and this is something exceptional. Everyone who hears about this story is amazed."

Maya Savir, writer and activist. She advised Hasan and helped him reach out to Israelis for donations, including those outside the peace camp.
Maya Savir, writer and activist. She advised Hasan and helped him reach out to Israelis for donations, including those outside the peace camp. Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

Tamara Erde, an Israeli filmmaker who is active in Paris and Berlin, creates short movies with the children in the village, and distributes them to schools internationally. "The goal is to establish communication between the children in Deir al-Balah and other children their age, so that they will be as little isolated as possible," Erde says. "There are already teachers in Italy, Norway and Greece who plan to show the films to their classes, and to film their own short movies that will be sent to the children in the village."

One veteran educator who is helping Hasan enter additional philanthropic channels, but prefers not to be identified by name, said this week, "It's vital to start with the next generation in order to create a smidgen of trust. This is the only way if we want to emerge from the loop of murderous hatred between peoples. And children are children are children. Darkness hasn't settled in their inner world yet.

"Other Israelis and I are doing this so that we'll be able to say that our hearts weren't indifferent in the face of this suffering," he continues. "And maybe our children will also be able to one day look back and say, 'After all, they did something so that this trauma won't haunt us for generations.'"

In his social media posts, Garbarz calls on people to keep donating. The posts have already surpassed all expectations, he says.

"The responses are very positive, and that's apparent in the number of donations. Even so, it's impossible to ignore the fact that the Israeli mainstream perceives helping children 'who are not ours' as some sort of political stance. As a left-wing act. That is very sad and very dangerous.

"I insist that it isn't. Every person who is connected to their soul must do everything in their power so that children, on all sides, will survive this war."



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