Gifts for Gaza
Support Gifts for Gaza and bring vital medical aid to Palestinians. This fundraiser offers a sterling silver necklace featuring a replica antique Palestinian coin, along with photo prints and greeting cards by Gaza-born photographer Mahmoud Nasser—capturing the resilience and daily lives of Gaza’s people—and a handmade organiser by ceramic artist Misma Anaru. All proceeds go to Medical Aid for Palestinians, funding life-saving health services, including the work of the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in North Gaza. Brought to you by Tāmaki Loves Palestine with support from Regular Interval.
Where your money will be put to work:
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) works for a future where every Palestinian has access to a comprehensive, effective and locally-led system of healthcare, and the full realisation of their rights to health and dignity.
To achieve this, we work in collaboration with Palestinian communities and trusted local partners to answer a wide range of health and social needs, from providing vital medical aid in emergencies, to supporting the development of better health services for the long term. We also uplift the voices of Palestinians, and campaign for an end to the barriers to health and dignity that come from living through occupation, displacement, discrimination and conflict.
MAP continue to provide life-saving support on the ground in Gaza. The Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital (PFBS) in Gaza City has delivered crucial healthcare services across departments such as emergency, obstetrics, gynaecology, and surgery for over four decades. Since the Israeli military began systematically dismantling Gaza’s health system in October 2023, PFBS has played a critical role in providing life-saving care to Palestinians, supported by MAP.
The hospital has sustained indirect damage from Israel’s military bombardment. Yet, PFBS and its staff have remained steadfast, restoring damaged departments to keep services available.
Dr Ahmad Eskiek, who oversees the hospital’s operations said “With Al-Ahli Arab Hospital shutting down at the start of the war, our hospital played a crucial role in performing most surgeries in Gaza. The women’s clinic alone was seeing over 300 patients daily, and surgeries were being conducted 24/7.”
Since August 2024, MAP has not only provided essential staffing and resources but has also helped to restore damaged facilities and create new ones. Among these efforts, MAP helped establish a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in September, which now provides life-saving care for premature infants. This is PFBS’s first-ever PICU, offering specialised care for newborns in Gaza, particularly those from North Gaza, who have few alternatives for survival amid Israel’s intensified military attacks and tightened siege there.
About Mahmoud Nasser:
Mahmoud Nasser is a documentary/street photographer born and raised in Gaza City. He was lucky to leave Gaza for Canada with his family during times of turmoil in 2008, but even luckier to see himself back in even worse times in 2021 after nearly 13 years of living abroad. His love for photography has seen him back in a place where many are literally dying to leave at the drop of a dime. Mahmoud has returned to Gaza several times to photograph the loss of life and suffering, but also the human stories and the people of Gaza’s love for life.
Mahmoud most recently visited Gaza in late 2023. On leaving, he wrote in the Electronic Intifada:
“My dear and beloved Gaza.
To you I write. I left you, with a bag on my shoulder. I weep at losing you.
A part of myself will forever be empty without you. My body may not be there, but my soul, my heart, everything that makes me human, stays etched in your beautiful and rugged concrete landscape.
No more stunning sunsets and walks on the beach. No more falafel from Zahran. No more Thursday nights with our families.
It’s goodbye for now.
I hope to see you again, my beloved Gaza.”