Santa Barbara–Based Charity Supplying Gaza from 7,500 Miles Away

Almost 90 percent of the total population in Gaza has been displaced because of the Israel–Hamas war. That is 1.9 million people — mainly civilians and more than triple the population of Santa Barbara County — forcibly uprooted from their homes in the middle of winter.

Driven to help, Santa Barbara–based charity ShelterBox is providing aid packages — including blankets, hygiene kits, and materials to repair damaged homes — to give Palestinians some semblance of shelter among the rubble and debris left behind by Israeli airstrikes. 

“Winter makes everything harder in an emergency,” said Kerri Murray, president of ShelterBox U.S.A.  “People in Gaza are suffering from hunger, disease, and the cold. They need basics — things that help people stay warm but also provide the comforts of home.” 

Displaced civilians have been forced to move frequently in search of safety. Many find themselves living, cooking, and sleeping on the streets or in crumbling structures without walls, lacking essentials like toothbrushes, diapers, feminine products, and proper kitchenware. 

ShelterBox is working with the humanitarian relief organization MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians) to distribute these supplies out of Egypt and Turkey. The first shipment will help an initial “pilot” of 1,100 households (more than 5,000 people). 

It is not an easy task to procure these items, nor will it be easy to get them into Gaza, Murray acknowledged. Still, the charity intends to reach people in the coming weeks via the Rafah border. But it will be slow, unpredictable, and most likely limited by sporadic border closures.

ShelterBox now also has to account for a potential invasion by Israel into Rafah, which would “severely affect the passage of aid, with trucks unable to move freely through the city,” Murray explained. “While ShelterBox is not sending in its iconic tents in the first wave of aid to Gaza … this may change.” 

As temporary shelter becomes a growing priority, the charity is looking at tents as an option for the second phase of aid, given they comply with guidelines and regulations at the border.

 “It is a really challenging project,” Murray admitted. “But this is an unprecedented crisis.” 

According to the United Nations, the Gaza Strip has turned into a graveyard for children. Since the war began, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed, with an average of 250 deaths per day (70 percent being women and children). Additionally, more than 69,000 people have been wounded in a country with less than half of its hospitals in working condition.

ShelterBox’s outreach and fundraising efforts are only beginning, but the charity is already planning to launch bigger projects in the months to come, depending on donations.  

“I think this is massive in terms of precedence and humanitarian need,” Murray said, acknowledging the complexity of the issue. “We’ll see how the community responds to this.” 

While the current war is unprecedented, this is not the first time ShelterBox has helped Gazans displaced by one of the world’s longest-continuing conflicts. After the 2014 Gaza War, when 50 days of violence killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, the charity responded for what was the third time in only 10 years.

One survivor, Moh Eid, had seen his community become a warzone once already, in 2004. In 2014, his family lost their home for a second time.

“During one of the many rounds of conflict, our neighborhood was heavily bombarded,” Eid told ShelterBox. “The intensity of the airstrikes forced us to leave our home back then, and we never returned to it. It all started again; we lost everything.” 

Eid’s family sought shelter at a local school and eventually received a tent from ShelterBox. They tried hard to make the tent feel like home by filling it with the aroma of brewed tea and baked bread. It was a challenging lifestyle, but privacy is culturally important in the Middle East, Eid explained, so one tent can go a long way. 

“The worst thing that can happen to people is to deprive them of [privacy],” he said. “That’s exactly what destroying a house does; people lose dignity before they even lose their lives.”

In the wake of the conflict, Eid became a Rotary Peace Fellow and moved to the U.S., where he now works for Rotary International and was able to connect with ShelterBox. However, he still has family in Gaza.

Amid the ongoing conflict, his family’s home was once again destroyed in an airstrike, reminding him of the trauma he holds from losing everything in the past. Last Eid had heard from them, they were staying with relatives at Rafah Camp, alongside countless others seeking refuge. 

“The nightmare of displacement and homelessness is haunting everyone there,” he said. “I never thought that one day I would think back and realize that … when I had a tent to sleep in, I was extremely privileged and lucky.” 

Murray said ShelterBox is in the early stages of relief in Gaza. She compared it to their response to the invasion of Ukraine, which just passed its second anniversary. In that time, ShelterBox has aided over 120,000 Ukrainians.

“We couldn’t imagine two years ago that we’d still be there providing assistance,” Murray said. “We’ve had to remain flexible. It feels like it will be the same in Gaza.” 

Despite the extremity of the conflict, and the political division surrounding it, ShelterBox is ready to dive in headfirst. “We’re a humanitarian relief organization,” Murray stressed. “We have to help the people in this conflict on all sides, despite how polarized this conflict has become.” 

To learn more and donate, visit ShelterBox’s website here.