Israelis fundraise to help Palestinian teen escape abusive father in Gaza

Hundreds of Israelis contributed to help a teenager escape an abusive father in Gaza.

 Members of Palestinian security forces keep watch as a taxi carrying passengers arrives at the gate of Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip February 23, 2021.  (photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)
Members of Palestinian security forces keep watch as a taxi carrying passengers arrives at the gate of Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip February 23, 2021.
(photo credit: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS)

A number of Israelis helped conduct a crowdfunding campaign for a teenage girl being abused by her father in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

The crowdfunding campaign was shared on Twitter by journalist and director Shlomi Eldar, with over 5,600 people viewing the tweet.

Eldar wrote that he had met the 18-year-old girl and her mother a few years ago, but since then the girl had ended up in Gaza and was being abused by her father who would not let her see her mother.

The journalist added that a way had been found to get the girl out of Gaza and to Turkey, attaching a link to a crowdfunding campaign opened by two Israeli young women for that purpose.

A woman waits for a travel permit to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing after it was opened by Egyptian authorities for humanitarian cases, in the southern Gaza Strip February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
A woman waits for a travel permit to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing after it was opened by Egyptian authorities for humanitarian cases, in the southern Gaza Strip February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)

The crowdfunding page, run by Abigail Szor, included a description reading “Rana needs financial support to buy a plane ticket from Egypt to Turkey, and to help her with starting money for an apartment and food. We are asking you to support and donate, this is an opportunity to save her life.”

Hundreds of Israelis contributed to fundraiser

A few days later, Eldar published an update writing "I thought that amid the great chaos that surrounds us, maybe there would be some people who will be willing to give, whose hearts will be open to those who have been forgotten. In practice, hundreds of people mobilized to help. Hundreds of Israelis. And the girl? Since yesterday she has been outside of Gaza. Her life was saved."