Pro-Palestinian activists gathered at St. Jax Church in Downtown Montreal for a Gaza Community Fundraiser dinner. The event was hosted on February 23, and organized by the Montreal chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement. The organizing for the event started a month prior.

Sarah Shamy, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, highlighted the importance of the fundraiser and its role in Palestinian liberation.  “All the funds are going to be going to Gaza, through the [Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund]. We’ve invited the entire Palestinian and Arab community here, so that we can gather in strength, and it’s because as a youth formation in the diaspora, we believe that we have a very active role to play in helping our people back home,” she emphasized. 

Shamy explained that the funds will go towards aiding children and will also help to acquire medical relief.

Participants bought tickets to be able to attend the event. This paid for their food and aid to people in need in Gaza, as well as raffles and an auction.

The auction included items such as a Palestinian thobe with tatreez, which is a form of traditional Palestinian embroidery, and a large map of Palestine.

Martin Griffiths, the current UN aid chief, warns that hundreds of thousands are facing starvation in Gaza as famine arrives at “incredible speed.”