Phase 1 – Immediate Family Support

The first phase of the Fund provides direct financial assistance to the families of healthcare workers who have been killed, many of whom were primary breadwinners.

This phase was born out of an act of profound collegial solidarity – a collective response from the global health community to honour the courage, sacrifice, and humanity of those who gave their lives in service of others. It exists to stand beside their families in grief, to acknowledge their immeasurable loss, and to send a clear message: you are not alone, and you have not been forgotten.

Support is delivered through trusted hospital focal points across Gaza, recognising each hospital as the heart of its community. We work directly with hospital leadership and staff to identify families in need and to facilitate payments with care, accuracy, and dignity.

At the time of writing (February 2026), the Fund has distributed USD $1,000 to over 157 families, with distributions continuing as funds are raised. This work has been carried out in close partnership with:

• Indonesian Hospital
• Al-Shifa Hospital
• Al-Aqsa Hospital
• Nasser Hospital

Assistance is delivered with urgency and compassion, helping families meet essential living costs, regain a sense of stability, and navigate life after devastating loss – always with dignity and respect at the centre.

This phase is grounded in mutual aid principles, ensuring support is shaped by community needs and delivered through locally rooted networks.

Phase 2 – Rebuilding & Training the Health Workforce

Phase two focuses on rebuilding Palestinian-led healthcare systems and restoring clinical capacity, with the explicit aim of preserving the sovereignty of Palestinian healthcare as a pathway to wider Palestinian sovereignty.

Guided by a decolonial approach to global health, this phase actively challenges extractive humanitarian models and instead centres Palestinian knowledge, leadership, and decision-making. Health is understood not as charity, but as a site of resistance, self-determination, and collective liberation.

Due to the systematic targeting of health workers in Gaza – as documented by the United Nations¹ – entire medical specialties have now been wiped out or critically depleted. There are currently no board-certified emergency physicians, and severe shortages of radiologists, anaesthetists, surgeons, intensivists, and other key specialists, creating catastrophic gaps in lifesaving care.

We are currently raising funds to support the salaries of doctors who are sustaining the health system. Many are junior doctors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and continue to serve their communities despite not receiving pay

Another cornerstone of this phase is the Fund’s residency training scholarship programme – the only residency scholarship initiative of its kind currently available for Palestinian doctors. This programme safeguards the future of Palestinian healthcare by:

• Supporting postgraduate specialist training
• Addressing critical workforce shortages
• Rebuilding decimated specialties
• Building long-term clinical leadership rooted in local institutions
• Preventing skills extraction and medical brain drain
• Strengthening system sustainability through locally trained specialists

By investing in Palestinian clinicians and institutions, this phase moves beyond emergency response toward system recovery, professional development, and institutional continuity, ensuring expertise remains in Palestinian hands, serving Palestinian communities.

Phase 3 – Long-Term Health System Strengthening

Phase three focuses on sustaining long-term health system strengthening by directly supporting Palestinian-led healthcare actors who are already embedded within their communities and health systems.

This includes partnerships with organisations such as the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and other local health providers working across Gaza and the West Bank. Through this phase, the Fund aims to:

• Strengthen community-based primary healthcare services
• Support locally led health programming and governance
• Invest in institutional resilience and service continuity
• Amplify Palestinian leadership in health system recovery

By resourcing existing Palestinian institutions, this phase ensures recovery efforts are locally driven, culturally rooted, and structurally sustainable, reinforcing self-determination and long-term health sovereignty.

Our Approach

Across all phases, the Fund is guided by:

• Solidarity, not charity
• Palestinian leadership and decision-making
• Rights-based healthcare principles
• Decolonial practice in global health
• Sustainable impact over short-term fixes

Footnotes

¹ United Nations reporting on attacks against healthcare workers and medical infrastructure in Gaza.