Noura* sits in what she calls "something like a tent" in Al-Mawasi, her eight-month-old daughter Rania* wrapped against her chest. The space is cramped. A rubbish container sits just outside, filling the air with the smell of decay. This is not a home. It's the third place they've been forced to flee to since the conflict began.
Inside, Rania is dangerously thin. Noura can no longer breastfeed after a shrapnel injury left her hospitalised with a serious vein injury. Formula costs 200 shekels—eight times what it cost before the war. Food is scarce. Medicine is scarcer still.
This is what survival looks like in Gaza right now. And this is why deliveries matter.
When aid can't get through, children pay the price
For families like Noura's, a delivery isn't just a delivery. It's the difference between life and death.
Gaza has been under siege for over two years. The conflict has killed more than 20,000 children. Hundreds of thousands more are displaced, hungry, and living in conditions no child should ever endure. The infrastructure that once sustained daily life—schools, hospitals, water systems—has been devastated.
Getting aid into Gaza is extraordinarily difficult. Damaged roads. Checkpoints. Restrictions on what can enter and when. Humanitarian workers risk their lives to bring in the supplies families desperately need.
And yet, they keep going. Because they know what's at stake.
The delivery that reached Rania
When Noura first brought Rania to a Save the Children clinic, her daughter had severe acute malnutrition. Without treatment, she wouldn't survive.
The clinic was able to help because of deliveries that had made it through—shipments of peanut paste, medicine, and nutritional supplements. Items that seem simple but are impossible to find in Gaza right now.
Noura received one-to-one support from a nutrition specialist who guided her through introducing food to Rania safely. Within two weeks, her daughter started to improve.
"Thank God my daughter's condition improved," Noura said. "They made it easy for me."
Rania is recovering. But she still struggles with skin infections from the unsanitary environment where they live. And Noura still can't afford nappies, clean water, or the medicine she needs for her own injury.
The delivery that saved Rania's life was critical. But it's not enough. Not yet.
Rania* has been treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition at a Save the Children clinic, where she was provided with peanut paste, medicine and other supplements. Her mother, Noura*, received one-to-one support on nutrition and advice on introducing food to Rania*. Noura* has been receiving support from Save the Children since 2020, when she had a kitchen installed in her house, and has medical and educational support for her older children.
Hope in the hardest places
Noura has lost so much. Her parents. Her home. The separation from her husband in the early days of the war. The life she worked so hard to build.
"I feel everything I built has gone," she told us.
But when she talks about her five children—Hana*, Samar*, Kamal*, Ola*, and little Rania—something shifts. She promises them a better future. She tells them they'll go back to school. That they'll have beautiful clothes again. That this will end.
"I always give them optimism," she said. "There is enough pessimism in this life."
It's a reminder that deliveries aren't just about supplies. They're about restoring dignity. Giving families a chance to breathe. Proving to parents like Noura that they haven't been forgotten.
The deliveries that matter this Christmas
Save the Children has been working in Gaza for decades. Throughout this crisis, our teams have provided lifesaving support to 1.6 million people—over half of them children.
We're running health clinics. Screening children for malnutrition. Trucking clean water to displaced families. Providing mental health support to children who've witnessed unimaginable trauma. Offering cash assistance so parents can buy what their families need most.
But we can only do this work when aid is allowed through. And when people like you make it possible.
This Christmas, your donation could fund the delivery that changes everything for a family like Noura's. It could provide the medicine that saves a child. The clean water that prevents disease. The nutrition that helps a baby recover.
It could be the difference between despair and hope.
Help us make more life-changing deliveries this Christmas. Donate today.
*Names changed to protect identity
