Amid ongoing tensions between Gaza and Israel, a member of the Ethereum community named Kat has launched a campaign powered by ETH to assist in evacuating families in the region to safety.
The ETH Evacuations campaign has raised over $55,000 in the past 24 hours to support families attempting to flee the Gaza Strip. The campaign was launched in response to the intensified fighting in the region, which has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced after Hamas-aligned militants stormed into Israel on October 7.
The campaign is spearheaded by @Katalunia030, who previously served as the head of product at Zora, a creator-focused platform on the Ethereum network. It was launched on March 10 with the unveiling of evacuations. XYZ allows donors to send donations in ETH directly to families in Gaza.
The campaign has gained significant momentum, with the crypto community actively participating in spreading the word. Kat, who has been involved in multiple charitable initiatives since her visit to the troubled nation in June 2023, has donated to the campaign.
According to Kat, it costs approximately 1.5 ETH (roughly $5k) for an adult and 0.5 ETH (approximately $2k) for a child to safely cross the Gaza border via the Rafah crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine. Supposedly, anyone crossing via that route must pay the “coordination fees,” which the campaign funds.
The campaign initially began to help Kat’s friends and colleagues who were struggling to evacuate. The campaign was extended to the broader community as the donations picked up pace. By March 13, the campaign had successfully evacuated two families away from harm.
Several NFT artists have supported the campaign by listing collections to raise funds. One artist, troels_a, launched the EVAC open edition project on Coinbase’s base network, with all funds going towards the education campaign. Another artist, who goes by ‘brian is online’ on X, launched three more NFTs and pledged to match all the proceeds generated.
As of the latest update, the campaign has been live for 3.5 weeks and has raised over $100,000 in ETH. The donations were received in multiple cryptocurrencies, indicating that the efforts were not limited to the Ethereum community.
The most recent donation to the campaign was a whopping 10 ETH, valued at approximately $32,868 at the time of receipt. However, the donor’s identity remains unknown.
The campaign is also a testament to the transparency offered by blockchain technology, which is crucial in philanthropic campaigns. This is especially important, given that there have been several cases of fraud in the name of charity.