FATIMA'S* STORY
23-year-old Plan International youth advocate Fatima is trapped in Gaza with her family.
She and her family of seven are sharing a small and cramped apartment with another family of seven, in constant fear of the bombs that are falling around her everyday. All of this while she mourns the loss of her friends to the conflict.
In November of 2023, a mere two months after the conflict started, Fatima shared some of her diary entires with Plan International in the hope that others would gain an understanding of the conditions that she, her family and the population of Gaza are living under.
7 months on, and Fatima and her family have so far survived the conflict, however conditions are now getting desperate.
Half of Gaza’s population are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity, with the unprecedented and rapid deterioration from human-made hunger into widespread starvation.
An estimated 1.5 million people, just like Fatima, have been displaced within Gaza. More than half are children. And thousands have lost their lives.
According to the UN, the number of children killed in the first six months of this latest war in Gaza has surpassed the number killed by all conflict, worldwide, in the last four years.
In March of 2024, Fatima again spoke to Plan International, detailing the daily struggle to find food for herself and her family.
Through our local partners, Plan International is supporting life-saving work in Gaza. This includes providing hot meals to families, and the provision of first aid kits and food parcels.
Plan International offices in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan are rapidly scaling up our response with our partners, like the Egyptian Red Crescent, to reach children in Gaza. And for the influx of Palestinians seeking safety across the border into neighbouring countries.
Alongside this vital work, Plan International Australia continues to call for an unconditional, permanent ceasefire, unfettered aid access, and the release of hostages.
Animation/art: Patrick Forrest
Voice over: Shurooq Kittaneh
Built with Shorthand