‘Without humanitarian aid, there is no life in Gaza. We have to hope tomorrow will be better’

Anwar is a frontline aid worker in Gaza, providing support through DEC charity Concern Worldwide. He continues to work in extremely challenging conditions to help others survive, and has at the same time faced the same displacement, loss and suffering as the people he helps.

Thanks to over £67 million raised so far by the UK public, aid workers like Anwar have been able to deliver urgently needed food, water, medicine, mental health care and much more across Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria. Here, Anwar tells his story.

I am a father of a small family, four sons and my wife. Before the war, we were living in our old home east of Gaza City. Our home was modest, small and beautiful. We built it over 25 years with love and with passion. We had our way of living, decorating our home with beautiful things that reflected our life and the growth of our children.

When the war started, we were shocked by the situation around us. All the people were scared. One of my sisters came to my home after she was evacuated from another area which was also very dangerous. I was responsible for my family and my sister’s family, I had to survive and to secure our needs every day. 

One day, early in the morning around five o’clock, we felt like the bombs were falling just above our house, and heard a loud explosion. We were very scared. We left our home quickly and went to another place in the centre of the city. Fortunately, our father-in-law’s home was empty, and I had the key to the house. Everybody, all the families of my brother and sister, joined us at my father-in-law’s home.

There we were travelling a long distance to buy water. This was the thing we struggled with the most; the water and the crowding, we were around 50 people in one home. During these two and a half years, we were displaced around 10 times. I lost four members of my family during the war; my nephews, my brother’s children and my sister’s children. This was heartbreaking and a tragedy for me.

Like any other person or family in Gaza, we suffer from the same issues, like the shortage of water, food and medicine, and the insecure situation, stress, pressure and fears. Because I need to find the basic things for my family, this has encouraged me to support other people because now we are one people, we have to support each other. 

Before the war, I was working in water and waste water projects and this experience gave me the confidence and the power to continue helping and assisting people. I joined my organisation in January 2025. At that time, I had two responsibilities; the first responsibility was for the affected people across Gaza, delivering them the most needed water, waste water and hygiene services. The second was the basic needs of my family.

Without international and national aid organisations supporting people, there is no life in Gaza. Humanitarian aid helps people with the basic things they need to continue life, to have hope that tomorrow will be better. I supervise and oversee the delivery of safe drinking water and hygiene, to provide dignity to internally displaced people across the Gaza Strip. 

Read more:

• How will the world look back on the ruin of Gaza?
• These raw, heartfelt voice notes are straight from Gaza’s frontline: ‘Even the silence is frightening’
• I work with pregnant women and new mothers in Gaza. Every day, they have to fight for survival

During one of our projects at a displacement camp in Gaza City, I met a family headed by a woman, a widow, and she had three daughters with disabilities. I was shocked when I saw this family living without any support, without a father, without any income. They were reliant on full assistance from others in the camp. I found that they had difficulties with sanitation and access to a toilet, a private toilet with safety for these girls. 

When the mother met with me, I told her: “We will provide you with a special latrine and I will make it in your tent, so you do not have to travel a long distance with your daughters to reach safe toilets and the girls can have the same sanitation with dignity.” She and her daughters became very happy. When they received this support, their lives became much more comfortable. The mother was very grateful and very thankful for the support from us, the DEC and Concern. 

I’m very proud of what I do. Of course, it is a symbol and a small intervention, but it means a lot that I succeeded in retaining the happiness and relieving the stress and the tension and the fear and the worries from those vulnerable families and the people we deliver our assistance to. 

I came back to Gaza City again five months ago. Many buildings were destroyed and even the infrastructure, so the home was not ready for living in a normal way. We started to build our life here again because we have hope that life will continue. Even though we have so much pain from losing our beloved, our destroyed old home with the gardens, we have to start again. Even though the basic needs available are very little and very minimum, we have to survive. We have the faith and belief that life will continue.

To donate to the appeal, please visit dec.org.uk.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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