Until December 2023 our focus was solely on the refugees and internally displaced people in Kurdistan with particular focus on the Yazidi refugees, thousands of whom have now made a new home in Australia. Yet many thousands of Yazidis, Iraqi and Syrian refugees remain in camps in the Duhok region of Iraq, continuing to swelter in summer and endure freezing conditions in winter. 

In February 2024 we redirected out focus to support projects for the people of Gaza who are barely surviving the genocidal war with Israel. We have developed a close relationship with the UK charity, Refugees Biriyani and Bananas (RBB), run by a very committed woman, Ruhi Loren Akhtar from Newcastle, UK.

RBB has been supporting refugees in camps across France, Greece, Turkey, and Iraq for 10 years, relying on refugees in the camps to do much of the work of distribution of food and supplies. Many of these workers have come from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, so have extensive networks of families and trusted friends through the region. It is these people, who are known to RBB through these close networks, who have been trusted to purchase and deliver food and water to needy areas in Gaza once funds could be sent to them.

The major projects since February 2024, that RBB (with our support) has been able to manage amongst the carnage in Gaza are summarised below.

February and March 2024

RBB were able to purchase food and aid in bulk in Egypt to transport and distribute to the families in Gaza. Two semi trailers were packed with non perishables and aid and transported into Gaza through the Rafah border. The two semi trailers crossed the Rafah border safely and continued without interruption to the storage warehouse where the supplies were successfully distributed.

April/May 2024

Support by our community of donors, for this the people of Gaza was amazing. In a short number of months we had raised and remitted $40,000. In early May, 2024 a further two semi trailers were packed in Egypt and headed for the Rafah Border but tragically the border was demolished by IDF so the semi trailers returned to Egypt and the boxes of aid were placed in storage. The Rafah Border remained closed and to this day is still blocked by the IDF. The decision was made to distribute the boxes late in 2024 to Refugees from Palestine and Sudan who had fled to Cairo. Homeless and poor families in Cairo also received a family box of aid.

June 2024

To bypass the blockade, RBB was able to provided cash donations (including those from Operation Hope) to trusted volunteers and family members in Gaza. These volunteers, frequently risking their own lives, started a food purchase and distribution project reaching thousands of families on a monthly basis.

July 2024

Vegetables and cooking oil was distributed to 250 families – approximately 1250 people. Food was able to be purchased from markets in Gaza as there were some local growers still able to plant and harvest vegetables. However, the cost was expensive and increasing as supplies became stretched and people ran out of money.

August 2024

Food was distributed to 235 families, approximately 1175 people. Each of the family packages is costing about $50 (€30) or $10 per individual. Total cost of the total distribution was $11,750.

October 2024

United Nations stated: “Barely a drop to drink in Gaza“

Due to the destruction of water pipelines by the IDF, drinking water could only be distrubuted using tankers. 10 trucks with drinking water were distributed in Gaza, totalling 360,000 litres. Each family received about 20 litres, which was barely enough to provide for their daily drinking needs.

Recently displaced children in the southern Gaza Strip are accessing only 1.5 to 2 litres of water each day, well below the recommended requirements just for survival, according to UNICEF estimates. According to humanitarian standards, the minimum amount of water needed in an emergency is 15 litres, which includes water for drinking, washing and cooking. For survival alone, the estimated minimum is 3 litres per day. The impact of this on children is particularly dramatic because children are also more susceptible to dehydration, diarrhea, disease and malnutrition.

November 2024

Operation Hope launched an appeal to raise more funds for drinking water, with 46,000 litres of water was delivered in 46 truck loads.

Erica and Kim travelled to Alstonville in New South Wales, to meet with Board Member Colleen Crawford and one of Colleen’s friends and fellow pro-palestian activist, Jawad, a doctor in the local hospital. 

January 2025

Rev Cannon Auntie Dianne Langham, friend, aboriginal elder and Minister for Reconciliation at the Newcastle Anglican Cathedral provided culturally dressed Koori dolls to sell to raise funds for Operation Hope.

Erica and Kim ran a successful stall at the Farmers Market Glendale, Newcastle selling Koori Dolls and laser cut gifts to raise funds.

March 2025

On 2 March, Israel completely blocked all supplies from entering the Gaza Territory, making it the longest complete closure in the history of the blockade.

Operation Hope donations provided support to RBB partners for the purchase and delivery of 550 food parcels to 2,550 people in Khan Younis.  

April 2025

This month saw the starvation of Gaza reaching new heights with no food or water entering for over 43 days.  The blockade had continued for over 150 days.

May 2025

3 water trucks were delivered, and a food distribution planned.

In Southern Gaza distributions were made at Khan Younis and Al Mawasi Refugee Camp.

Vegetables were no longer available for purchase in Southern Gaza, so the water distribution was undertaken by tankers. Statistics indicate that a human is able to survive for 30 days if they have water – so the priority became the water distributions.

June 2025

Another 55 trucks were provided to deliver 165,000 litres of water to families in Gaza.  The families are so very grateful for the food and/or water distributions.

July 2025

While travelling in the UK on holiday, Erica and Kim we met with Ruhi Loren Akhtar the CEO of Refugees, Biriyani and Bananas in Newcastle. She gave us a detailed update on the situation in Gaza:

Each month RBB are raising funds and sending donations (including our donations) totalling thousands of Euro’s that are used in Gaza to purchase dry goods, vegetables and tankers of water for distribution. 
Up to 2,500 families have been given food packages each month which equates to food for approximately 12,500 individuals. All purchases are made from reputable sources where transactions are traceable via invoices and receipts. Volunteers who organise the distributions take photographic evidence of the distributions and are committed to this work despite the ever-present risk to their lives. RBB and Operation Hope do not purchase anything on the black market.
By June, volunteers in northern Gaza were no longer able to purchase dry food such as rice and flour. There was very little available for the families, and the volunteers in that area are down to eating one meal a day.
In central Gaza the vegetable distributions have been made to Der Al Balah and Al Burej Refugee Camp but there are currently very few vegetables available to purchase. There are only a few places where crops are being grown and not enough to go anywhere near feeding the hundreds of thousands who are starving in Gaza.
Over the many years of instability people have become adept at storing and stockpiling food for times like these but these are finite. It is believed that trucks from Israel were being driven into Gaza, and the drivers are selling the food at extortionate prices. RBB and Operation Hope will not do business with these people.
In Southern Gaza distributions have been made at Khan Younis and Al Mawasi Refugee Camp. Vegetables are not available for purchase there any longer, so the last distribution was tankers filled with 165,000 litres of drinking water. Volunteers go from tent to tent inviting the families to come to collect water in their containers to alleviate stampedes and swarming.

Ruhi Akhtar

October 2025

RBB partnered with a US based Non Government Organisation GEM – Global Empowerment Mission to transport a truck of flour which reached Gaza from Jerusalem. 1,300 families each received a 25 kg bag of flour – a small relief in a famine caused by the IDF. Approximately A$65 can provide a family with a 25 kg bag of flour – food they’ve been denied for months.