3 Years Since October 2023: Alkhidmat Foundation Still Stands with Gaza Amidst the Rubble

Three years after October 2023, Gaza remains a place of unimaginable loss: homes destroyed, families torn, children growing up knowing displacement, hunger and fear. For millions of Palestinians, life has been reduced to the question of how to get through another day.

But in the middle of all this, there is another story worth telling. It is the story of people who stood by Gaza. It is how Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan showed up for Gaza.

For three years, Alkhidmat Foundation has continued to support Palestinians in Gaza with food, water, shelter, medical assistance and other forms of relief. Its work has reached families living through some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. And sometimes, the meaning of that support can be understood through a story of one child among the millions that Alkhidmat reached.

Alkhidmat's humanitarian response has continued for three years, reaching people across Gaza with food, water, shelter, medical supplies and educational support. According to the latest impact figures, Alkhidmat has provided 7,413 tons of aid, with a total value of PKR 10.23 billion. The relief effort has moved through 34 air-cargo shipments, four ships and 73 relief trucks through Cairo and Jordan. These numbers are difficult to imagine on their own. But break them down, and they begin to tell the story of everyday needs.

There were 448,898 hot meals for people who needed something as basic as food. There were 93,232 food packs, 356,568 canned-food items, 14,090 flour bags, 21,732 rice packs and thousands of vegetable baskets and other food items.

And the effort continued throughout the year, relief during Ramadan in the form of 7,442 Iftar packs was provided to help families in Gaza break their fast during a time when even putting food on the table had become a daily struggle. When the joyous occasion of Eid-ul-Adha arrived, qurbani meat distribution was ensured. Safe drinking water too was provided to displaced families and more than 4.65 million bottles were distributed. Alkhidmat Foundation also installed 6 water filtration plants to provide safe access to water for the war stricken families.

These are ordinary things. Food. Water. A meal at Iftar. Meat shared with a family on Eid. But in Gaza, where ordinary life has been shattered, ordinary things have become precious.

For families who had lost their homes or been forced to move, relief also meant having something to protect themselves from winter's cold, rain, wind and summer's scorching heat.

Alkhidmat provided 38,135 tents and tarpaulin sheets, along with 85,454 blankets, 2,824 mattresses, 1,420 winter packs, 2,000 kitchen sets and 6,647 family packs.

A tent or a tarpaulin sheet may seem like a simple thing from far away. In Gaza, it can mean something much more basic: protection and safety. When winter nights turn cold and families have nowhere else to go, a sheet over a shelter, a blanket around a child, or a mattress beneath a family can become a matter of survival. Alkhidmat ensured these basic family essentials are provided in Gaza. This is what three years of humanitarian response looks like when it reaches the ground. Not one grand gesture, but thousands of acts that help people get through another day.

The crisis in Gaza has also meant an enormous need for emergency medical assistance. Alkhidmat's reported response includes 444 tons of medicines, three ambulances, 34,077 hygiene kits, 19,989 baby kits and 17,500 safe-delivery kits, providing essential healthcare support to families affected by the conflict.

For a mother expecting a child, a safe-delivery kit is not just another item in a relief shipment. It is part of maternal care when medical access is severely strained. For a newborn, a baby kit is not just a statistic but basic child care. And for someone who is sick or injured, medical aid in Gaza can mean the difference between life and death.

Alkhidmat's humanitarian aid in Gaza also reached Deir Al Balah, where it collaborated with Action for Humanity (AFH) and AFH Palestine to launch Hope Camp 5, an emergency shelter project for families displaced by the conflict. Developed across 5,600 square metres, the project was initially planned for 56 families but expanded to support 63 displaced families as the need grew. With 56 emergency tents, the camp provided displaced families with a safer place to live amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

But Hope Camp 5 was designed to offer more than emergency shelter in Gaza. It brought together essential humanitarian services, including clean water and sanitation, education and healthcare. The camp included 320 metres of water piping, 5 water tanks, 11 wash basins and 11 triple-toilet units, along with 4 fully equipped school rooms and an on-site medical clinic with 2 consultation rooms and a pharmacy. By bringing shelter, WASH services, healthcare support and education together in one place, the project gave displaced families access to essential services while helping restore some measure of safety, dignity and stability in the midst of the crisis.

Alkhidmat's Orphan Care Program in Gaza continues to provide essential support to children who have lost one or both parents amid the conflict. Through this orphan sponsorship programme, children are identified and supported with essential needs including food, shelter, education, healthcare and psychological support. The programme has provided healthcare to more than 5,000 children, daily food support to over 8,000 orphans, safe shelter to more than 3,500 children, and education to over 6,200 children, while more than 2,000 children have received mental health support and over 4,000 families have received assistance. In a crisis where so many children have lost their families, homes and access to basic necessities, Alkhidmat's orphan support in Gaza is helping ensure that these children are not left without care, stability and the opportunity to grow.

Three years is a long time. In a humanitarian crisis, attention can fade. Headlines change. People move on to other stories. But for the people living through the crisis, there is no moving on. Gaza remains home to millions. And this is what makes Alkhidmat's three-year response significant. It was not a single shipment or a one-time campaign. It continued through food and water assistance, shelter support, medical supplies and education.

The numbers tell us about the scale. The trucks, ships and air shipments tell us about the effort required to get aid there. But the stories on the ground tell us about the real impact. They tell us about Hala and her sister, about families receiving food and water. They tell us about people sleeping under tents, about mothers receiving support for safe deliveries. And they tell us about Palestinian students in Pakistan who, through their tears, still walked across a stage to receive their degrees.