Rockford resident Farzeen Harunani has been pretty busy this holiday season. Recently, she helped organize a bazaar in Addison with the American Civic and Humanitarian Coalition.
Proceeds raised from donated entrance fees went to the nonprofit - Heal Palestine.
The nonprofit organization helps children injured by Israel’s bombing in Gaza receive medical care.
“These children have not had a future for so long,” she said. “And now they've gone from just having no future in a large open-air prison to not knowing if they'll be alive when they wake up in the morning,” Harunani said.
Eight-year-old Baraa is a recipient of the program. He arrived in Chicago in July to receive medical attention for his amputated right foot, the result of Israeli bombing that struck his home in Rafah. His arms were also injured in the bombing. He arrived with his mother and sister. His father and grandmother were killed in the attack.
The UN reports that Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world.
At the event, the boy recited a poem by renowned poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last December.
Over 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, with some estimates over 100,000 when calculating death by starvation and lack of medical care. UN officials say Israel’s attack on Gaza amounts to genocide, which Israel disputes.
Earlier this month Amnesty International released its investigation of the conflict and concluded that "Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip."
The coalition which hosted the event and other groups call for a ceasefire and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
