Gaza Fundraising Event Raises Support for Children Facing Starvation

On September 27, 2025, UOSSM Canada hosted an urgent fundraising event in solidarity with the people of Gaza. With hospitals collapsing, food disappearing, and medical supplies running out, Gaza is facing a famine-level crisis. Tens of thousands of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, and we must act.

This emergency event was organized to raise life-saving funds for the Malnutrition Department at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza, the only pediatric center of its kind still operating. Donations will directly support nutrition programs, medical supplies, and essential treatment for children in critical need.

Attendees heard powerful testimonies and urgent calls to action from humanitarian leaders who have witnessed the crisis firsthand, including:

• Dr. Anas Al-Kassem
• Dr. Aliya Khan

In solidarity with the families of Gaza, only light refreshments were served during the event. The focus was on standing together as a community to bring hope, medical relief, and nutrition to Gaza’s children.

Hello, everybody. My name is Dr. Aliya Khan, and I am a board member of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations. We provide relief in war zones. I personally have traveled to the West Bank, and I have seen the brutal occupation that the Palestinian people have been suffering over the past 75 years. Over the past 21 months, we have witnessed Israel's war of extermination with mass slaughter of the Palestinian people, as well as the bombing and complete destruction of all the universities, schools, mosques, churches, and hospitals in Gaza. All the water wells, including the Canada well, and all sanitation facilities have been destroyed. All olive groves, farmland, and farm animals have been completely destroyed. Healthcare workers and journalists have been specifically targeted, tortured, and murdered..

In 2016, I found myself deep in rural Uganda once again, in a vibrant yet underserved community called Kamengo. I was introduced to this community by a good friend, Jimmy Sebulime, who was originally from there. We were there on a medical mission, running a primary care clinic. Kamengo, like many rural communities in Uganda, is a place of resilience. The people live in modest homes surrounded by lush greenery, their lives intertwined with the ebb and flow of the seasons. Yet, beneath this beautiful landscape lies a harsh reality—limited access to healthcare, particularly for women and children, and the ever-present challenges that come with that scarcity.

As a trauma surgeon, I have had the privilege of working in many challenging environments, but nothing could have prepared me for the heart-wrenching experience of volunteering in Gaza. Over the course of nearly two weeks, I worked alongside a dedicated team of Canadian and American doctors, coordinated by the World Health Organization and Rahma Worldwide, to address the overwhelming humanitarian crisis that has gripped this region.