Documentation by Sam Masri TikTok/@sam.masri8 IG/@sam.e.masri Telegram/@sammasri8
In this article I write about the circumstances that led me to meet Wafa a Palestinian woman from Gaza and the verification of her story. Wafa had a comfortable and happy life prior to Oct 7th. Along with a big family of brothers, sisters, cousins including their children and grandchildren. More than 66 of those family members are now dead and were killed in separate airstrikes.
For more than 12 years Wafa had worked in the Hayat centre to combat violence against women in Gaza. However the last 6 months changed her live completely. After checking this story and verification, please consider helping her save the remaining of her family with this campaign that cover the passage fees to Egypt by donating and sharing.
In this article:
- The story of how we met Wafa.
- The mounting worries that led us to create a fundraiser campaign.
- How we verified the identity and the story of Wafa.
How We Met Wafa
Whilst joining a multi-guest Live on TikTok about the ongoing war and genocide in Gaza. I met Wafa for the first time in February 2024. After I commented and shared my opinions about the news in Gaza and how we can combat the ongoing massacre of civilians and children. I noticed that Wafa was also trying to share he opinions on the same topic. However, her limited English skills weren’t helping her in doing so. She asked if someone could translate for her, so I offered my help and went on to translate some of her story for the first time.
In the upcoming weeks, I translated for Wafa again and again on different Live streams. Until I knew and memorized the specific details of what she and her family have gone through very well. I took part in many Live streams about Gaza with Wafa during February and March. In all of those Live streams, she emphasised that her goal was to tell her story, to speak up and to create awareness about what the Palestinians in Gaza have been going through. Wafa said repeatedly that she doesn’t want a fundraiser campaign from those listening to her story. She is there to make her story and Palestinian voice heard.
Mounting Worries
After this the occupation enlarged their destruction campaign on Khan Yunus and later bombed Rafah in Gaza, the last refuge for Palestinians where more than a million civilians are crammed. By then Wafa started to sound her concerns about the safety of the remaining family members in Gaza.
She still has a brother, his wife, his son Abdul Aziz, the wife and the children of Abdul Aziz, and one orphan girl who is the daughter of Wafa’s niece who was killed in an air strike along with many family members of Wafa.
After several attacks of the surrounding area of where the remaining family members are currently displaced to, Wafa asked if anyone could start a campaign for her, so she can pay for the “organizing” fees of evacuating the remaining 8 family members, which can be as much as $8000 per person.
I volunteered to help Wafa start a campaign, but I faced several obstacles. Starting with the fact that I cannot start a GoFundMe campaign in the country I live in. But then thanks to the help provided by Hannah from UK, we were able to launch a campaign eventually. But when Wafa tried to mention the campaign on some live streams, she faced criticism from some people.
That’s why I’m documenting the next part of the story: how we verified Wafa’s identity and story.
How We Verified The Identity and The Story of Wafa
Because of the sensitivity of the fundraiser campaigns, we felt the ethical need of verifying the information and the identities of the people mentioned in Wafa’s story.
In the first step we did basic identity verification of the beneficiaries:
- We requested passport/ID documents of all the beneficiaries of the fundraiser campaign. We received the requested documents through Wafa in the same day.
- Using these documents we verified the names and the ages of the people mentioned in Wafa’s story.
- We requested and received Wafa’s passport document. Later our team member Hannah made a video call with Wafa and verified that the passport belongs to her.
But what about the details of her story? How to make sure that the details and the lost family members’ numbers are factual?
Initially I talked with Muhammed in Gaza who knew Wafa personally and verified his identity himself through social media and a video call. Muhammed talked to me about Wafa’s life before the war. He had met her through his wife and knew several family members of hers. I then spoke with his wife Tahani who was a coworker of Wafa in a separate call. They together helped us with the following:
- They confirmed the identity of Wafa’s family and where they had lived before the war.
- They confirmed that Wafa and Tahani worked together in Hayat Centre For Combating Violence Against Women in Gaza since 2011.
- They revealed the nature of Wafa’s job, which matched the job details that she talked about in different live streams several times.
- They confirmed that at least 66 family members of Wafa’s were killed in separate occasions, and matched the locations and dates of these events that were provided by Wafa.
- They confirmed which of Wafa’s family members are still alive and where they live now.
Finally, we got a story published in WSJ that talked in detail about Wafa’s family and the high death toll among them, confirming the same details that we documented in our verification process. You can check the full WSJ article here.
If you had a chance to read Wafa’s heartbreaking story and have checked our verifications. Please consider donating and sharing the campaign to help her save the remaining family members in Gaza:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/she-lost-66-family-member-help-her-save-the-rest.
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