In a cramped, weathered nylon tent in central Gaza, where days blur beneath scorching heat, dust and the constant hum of drones, 9-year-old Maryam Dawas lies on a thin blanket close to the bare earth.
Before the war, Maryam was a vibrant schoolgirl who filled her home with laughter and played with her older brother, Mahmoud. Today, her childhood has been overtaken by displacement, severe malnutrition, illness and deprivation.
Her parents, Abdul Aziz and Medlala, are doing everything they can to keep their children safe. Alongside Maryam and Mahmoud are 1-year-old twin brothers Mohammad and Sami, who need milk, food, nappies and clean water. In Gaza, even these most basic necessities have become difficult and extremely expensive to obtain.
For this family of six, public support has become their lifeline.
Donations are not providing luxuries. They are paying for the essentials the family needs to survive: food, drinking water, infant milk, medicine, medical treatment, hygiene supplies and shelter costs, including the land where their tent is pitched.
They have also helped the family through serious medical emergencies. Recent donations covered an operation, inpatient care and medication when medical costs had risen far beyond what the family could afford.
But paying one hospital bill or buying one supply of food does not make the family secure. Every month, food runs out, water must be bought again, the twins need more milk and nappies, medicines need replacing and living costs continue.
Maryam herself remains particularly vulnerable. Her body has already endured severe malnutrition and illness, and she needs continued access to adequate nutrition, medication and medical care. The family also continues to hope for the opportunity to access the specialist treatment she needs.
This is where your support makes a direct difference.
A donation can help put food in the family's tent, provide milk for the babies, buy clean water, pay for Maryam's medicine or help meet the next medical emergency. It also gives Abdul Aziz and Medlala one less impossible choice between the needs of one child and another.
Maryam and her family have survived this far because people chose to care.
Please do not assume that because they have received donations before, they now have enough. Those donations have already been used for the food, water, treatment, medicine and living costs that kept them going through previous days and emergencies. Their needs continue.
Maryam should be thinking about school, playing and growing up. Her parents should not have to rely on strangers around the world to keep their children fed and safe.
But right now, they do.
Please don't give up on Maryam and her family.
Every donation, however small, helps them get through another day. If you cannot donate, please share Maryam's story with someone who can.
Help keep this family surviving today, and help give Maryam the chance of a future beyond this.