A group of former students at an educational institution in southern Israel has raised tens of thousands of dollars to get two former graduates out of Gaza, to help a third who is still there, and to support the families of all three.

The young people met several years ago on a semester program run by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. The institute uses environmental issues as a tool to bring together students from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and the wider world.

Dozens of graduates and others donated to cover the fee of roughly $5,000 each that two of the graduates had to pay to leave Gaza via Egypt at the time, in January and April 2024. Both are now studying in Europe on scholarships, one for a master’s degree and the other for a doctorate.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed since May 2024, except for a brief period during a ceasefire from January to March this year, according to the IDF.

The third alumnus, still in the Strip, has told his Israeli friends that he is weak from lack of food and fears for his life on every trip to pick up humanitarian aid, one of the campaign organizers, Noa Polyakine

Dotan, told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

Thousands of Palestinians congregate daily near food distribution points in Gaza, including three managed by the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been plagued by near-daily shooting incidents that have seen hundreds killed as they try to reach the distribution centers.

The United Nations says more than 1,300 people have been killed trying to obtain aid supplies in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.

The IDF has acknowledged firing warning shots at........

© The Times of Israel