Fundraisers warn of ‘catastrophic’ drop in donations to Gaza since October ceasefire: Report

Four organizers of mutual aid funds, which depend on small contributions, told the Guardian they have observed a significant drop in financial support over the past month.

Donations aimed at assisting families in temporary shelters, who are battling illness, hunger, and malnutrition, have become increasingly difficult to secure.

Megan Hall, an Australian activist managing numerous mutual aid campaigns on social media for individual families in Gaza, noted that while donations began to slow in September, they sharply decreased following the ceasefire on October 10.

During the Israeli war on Gaza, Hall said she was consistently able to send about $5,000 a week to people in the blockaded Palestinian territory. For October, she said she raised just over $2,000 across all of her campaigns.

Some fundraisers believe the decline stems from a public perception that Palestinian suffering has ended, while Hall suggests other factors are also influencing this trend. She stated, "The drop in donations is catastrophic. It feels like with the so-called ‘ceasefire,’ the world thinks Palestinians don’t need our help anymore."

As winter approaches, many displaced individuals lack proper clothing and blankets. Activists like Hall are running low on funds to assist Gaza families.

“Mutual aid has kept people alive for two years. And now going into winter, and having been displaced so many times, many don’t even have winter clothing or blankets,” Hall noted.

Paul Biggar, CEO of Tech for Palestine, pointed to algorithmic biases by leading social-media companies such as Meta against pro-Palestinian content, which hampers visibility for fundraisers outside established advocacy circles.

Some nonprofits are also reporting substantial declines in support. Gaza Soup Kitchen, which has raised over $5.8 million on GoFundMe since February 2024, saw donations plummet by 51% from September to October, despite providing 10,000 meals daily.

Mainstream humanitarian organizations, such as Oxfam GB and Save the Children UK, are also concerned about the drop in donations since the ceasefire, with Save the Children reporting a one-third decrease in social media fundraising.

Alison Griffin from Save the Children UK highlighted that while other revenue streams are stable, the urgent need in Gaza remains critical. Humanitarian organizations warn that another uncertain winter is upon the 2 million residents of Gaza.

“We market but when there’s not enough media coverage, the marketing doesn’t become cost-effective, and so it is like a self-perpetuating cycle,” said Griffin.

She said other revenue streams – from high-income and legacy donors – were holding up but stressed that the need in Gaza was high.

According to an assessment by SARI Global, cited by the World Health Organization, more than 70% of Gaza’s population is confined to parts of the territory that are exposed to rain, strong winds and coastal surges with no functioning infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said most of Gaza had been completely destroyed in Israeli aggression.

“The ceasefire means that it is quieter in terms of bombs falling on people’s heads. It doesn’t mean that overnight people’s lives became wonderful because most of Gaza is completely destroyed,” a spokesperson for OCHA said.

“Most of the agricultural land has been destroyed, most of the livestock has been destroyed and the healthcare system is decimated. And of course, the fact that people have been displaced over and over again over these two years means that their coping mechanisms have been degraded to nothing.”

Israel had opened only three of the seven border crossings, which OCHA said had limited aid distribution.

Western governments have largely supported the Zionist regime’s genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has martyred nearly 70,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children.

Since the ceasefire went into effect on October 10, Zionist regime has violated the deal by continuing to attack Gaza, killing at least 290 Palestinians, and by not allowing the agreed-upon 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza, which the United Nations has said in the past is the bare minimum amount needed.

In August, the world’s leading expert on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, declared a famine in Gaza.

Over 450 Palestinians, including over 150 children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza between October 2023 and the end of September, according to the Gaza health ministry.