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Help transform the lives of children in Gaza by sponsoring an orphan.
Help transform the lives of children in Gaza by sponsoring multiple orphans
Towards our Orphans and Children fund can help save and transform the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in Gaza
Israel’s assault on Gaza has orphaned thousands of Palestinian children since October 2023. Our Orphan Sponsorship Programme is a lifeline for many of these grieving children, who are struggling to survive relentless attacks and siege. Thanks to our generous supporters, Islamic Relief have massively expanded our programme, tripling the number of children receiving much-needed support. But, as Gaza’s grim death toll continues to climb, over 7,000 children are waiting for sponsorship – they need you now, more than ever.
The total death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 62,000, and tens of thousands of children have been left without parents to care for them.
The ongoing crisis has deeply affected orphaned children, who like many others, have faced displacement, loss, starvation and almost 2 years of bombardment. These dire conditions are made even worse by the loss of their parents’ love, comfort and support.
Since the escalation of violence since October 2023, thousands of children have been orphaned.
In Islamic tradition, an orphan is usually a child whose father has passed; they are considered an orphan until reach the age of maturity. Islamic Relief’s Orphan Sponsorship Programme supports children who have lost one, or both, of their parents.
Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we have expanded our Orphan Sponsorship Programme by more than 70%, with over 21,000 orphaned children in Gaza now sponsored by Islamic Relief.
However, there are currently 7,375 newly orphaned children waiting for the lifeline of sponsorship. You can help.
For 27 years, Islamic Relief has been supporting orphaned children in Gaza through one-to-one sponsorship. Today, Israel’s siege on Gaza means our Orphan Sponsorship Programme is one of the few remaining ways to get real support into the hands of suffering Palestinian families.
We are now introducing 2 more ways our donors can support vulnerable children in Gaza.
Here, we break down the different ways you can be a lifeline to Gaza’s orphans:
Our Orphan Sponsorship Programme will match each sponsor with a specific child, who you support through a monthly stipend provided to their guardian.
This payment was previously earmarked to cover costs associated with the child’s healthcare and education but, amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza, families now have full flexibility to use the money as they wish. So they can buy what they most need, whenever goods are available.
The ongoing bombardment of Gaza has often orphaned multiple children within the same family. Many of our donors have expressed their kind wish to sponsor more than 1 child from the same family, which is now possible.
As with one-to-one sponsorship, families receive a monthly stipend for each sponsored child, with the flexibility to use the funds to buy what they most need.
Donations to the General Orphans Fund are pooled together to support orphans in need of extra care, assist their guardians, and provide financial support to those in greatest need.
Rather than a direct, one-to-one sponsorship, this donation goes towards providing critical care and support to orphaned children enrolled in the Orphan Sponsorship Programme.
Examples of how funds have been used in the past include covering healthcare costs, and supporting an orphan whose sponsor has been unable to continue giving.
You can choose to donate regularly to the General Orphans Fund or give what you can as a one-off donation. Every generous donation eases the burdens of families struggling to survive.
Many of our donors are extremely keen to support people in desperate need in Gaza. While the scale and the duration of the crisis can leave observers feeling hopeless at times, orphan sponsorship is a lifeline to families in Gaza, putting money directly into the hands of those who need it most.
Here, we answer some of the questions our teams most commonly receive:
We are supporting more than 21,000 orphaned children in Gaza with an unconditional monthly stipend through our Orphan Sponsorship Programme. This means we do not place any restrictions on how families choose to spend their money, trusting that they know best how to meet their most urgent needs. Wherever possible, we also ensure families with orphaned children are included in our seasonal distributions, receiving Ramadan and qurbani food parcels, Eid gifts, and winter survival items.
These families come from all over Gaza, including North Gaza, Gaza City, Rafah, the Middle Area and Khan Younis – but almost all are now forcibly displaced. Israel has declared over 86% of Gaza as off limits to Palestinians, so most people now live in severely overcrowded pockets of western Gaza and the Middle Area.
The Orphan Sponsorship Programme is the most reliable way Islamic Relief can provide support to people in Gaza in the current dangerous and changeable situation.
Electronic transfers enable us to get your donations directly into the accounts of the families of orphaned children, despite bank closures and bypassing the high fees charged by informal money lenders. It also avoids placing families and our staff and partners in further danger as they do not have to make an additional journey to physically collect the funds.
We use the UN World Food Programme’s payment system to get your donations to families. It sends families a code via SMS, or through a mobile app, which they can use to withdraw cash or make electronic payments at supermarkets registered to the system.
The system allows Islamic Relief to see which families have redeemed their codes, and has become a helpful tool in checking in on the welfare of families enrolled in the programme.
Without a reliable electricity supply, people in Gaza have had to find other ways to keep their phones and other devices charged, with a heavy reliance on solar power.
Prior to October 2023, families could use the monthly stipend to cover costs associated with the child’s education and healthcare. We have since expanded this so the money is unconditional, meaning families can use the money to pay for whatever they need most. In 2023, we also introduced a new pricing model, meaning most families’ stipend is now larger.
While the blockade has created severe shortages of most basic items and inflation has skyrocketed, this does not mean there is nothing at all in Gaza’s markets.
In reality, the availability of items and their prices change day to day. Our staff have described an exhausting routine of heading out first thing each morning to see what basic items might be available.
The situation is extremely difficult, especially as many people have lost their livelihoods and banks are closed. Families receiving a monthly stipend through our Orphan Sponsorship Programme can rely on having that money to spend, whenever the items they need are
The situation has improved slightly of late, with some commercial goods now entering Gaza. More items are available, and prices have slightly reduced, though they remain very high in relation to pre-October 2023.
Almost 90% of Gaza’s population has become displaced, often multiple times. In this situation, our staff and partners are doing their utmost to check in with families enrolled on our Orphan Sponsorship Programme as much as possible.
We stay in contact with families by phone and through WhatsApp groups. Our team is also in regular contact with the guardians of orphaned children to check that they have redeemed their monthly stipend via our payment system. If families have not redeemed their stipend and are uncontactable, our staff reach out to their families and neighbours for more information.
Tragically, 175 children and young people enrolled on our Orphan Sponsorship Programme have been killed since October 2023. This number includes people over the age of 18, who were enrolled on the Orphan Sponsorship Programme as children.
If a sponsored child is killed in Gaza, we continue to support the family to avoid adding to their hardship. With the sponsor’s agreement, we commit to a period of continued support through sponsorship.
Regardless of where they live, orphaned children are vulnerable and in need of support, but those enduring life in Gaza right now face a mountain of additional challenges.
To help orphaned children and their guardians cope, we have made the monthly stipend they receive unconditional, meaning it can be used to buy whatever they need most at any given time.
This is different to other countries and territories, where the monthly stipend can generally only be used to cover costs associated with education and healthcare.
Yes, donors will receive updates on the child they’ve sponsored. It is our aim to provide annual updates, but the situation on the ground has meant that there can be delays in gathering this information and sharing it with donors.
Children enrolled in our Orphan Sponsorship Programme generally receive support until the age of 18. While sponsoring a child in Gaza now is vital to supporting their survival by allowing families to purchase basics like food, beyond the current crisis, the money can be used to help children build brighter futures.
This might look like new school uniforms for children returning to school, textbooks for university students, or vital rehabilitative care to help children who have sustained injuries improve their quality of life.
We urge sponsors and those considering sponsorship to make a lasting commitment to a child in need.
Islamic Relief has been supporting vulnerable people in Gaza throughout the current crisis, and for decades. Israel’s assault has turned Gaza into the most dangerous place in the world to deliver aid, targeting and displacing humanitarian workers. Despite the huge challenges, our staff and partners are doing everything they can to keep providing aid.
At the moment, as well as through our Orphan Sponsorship Programme, we are providing cash assistance as part of the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and providing maternal healthcare. The latter includes scans, medication, and the delivery of babies, including through surgery.
We are also continuing to support people through emergency distributions, when possible. Distributions delivered since the crisis began include hot meals, water and hygiene kits.