Scottish university lecturer raises more than £50,000 in one day to evacuate 'terrified' family from Gaza

‘Overwhelmed’ peace expert thanks public after flood of donations

A lecturer at St Andrews University has said she has been “overwhelmed” after raising more than £50,000 in just 24 hours to help rescue her “exhausted and terrified” family from war-torn Gaza.

Dr Malaka Shwaikh, who has already lost four cousins in four separate Israeli air strikes, hopes to evacuate her family to Egypt, including her parents, Mohammed and Najah, who are in Rafah and require urgent medical attention.

She launched a crowdfunding page on Monday after finding herself “shaking with fear” following the brutal bombardment of Rafah, which she said had left her parents “traumatised to the core”.

Mohammed and Najah. Parents of St Andrews University lecturer, Malaka Shwaikh, who hopes to evacuate her family from war-torn Gaza

The lecturer, who teaches peace and conflict studies at St Andrews, estimates that almost £80,000 will be required to evacuate her family, although they are adamant they want to return when the conflict is over, despite their home having been burned.

Dr Shwaikh told The Scotsman many of her students and colleagues at St Andrews University, where she has worked since January 2020, are among the 1,300 people who have donated to the crowdfunder.

"I’ve just been overwhelmed,” she said. “I’ve had moments of tears with how much support there is. It has been really overwhelming, in a good way, to see friends all over the world, sharing the link really widely and asking their friends and communities to help as much as possible.

"My colleagues, a lot of the donations have come from them, and a lot of them are coming from students. Especially when it comes from students and colleagues, it hits different.

"It is really heart-warming to see this rapid response. As much as I don’t like asking for help, I’ve just reached a point in this war where I’m just unable to take any more madness."

Dr Shwaikh has not seen most of her family since she left Gaza in 2013 to study in the UK, although her parents visited in October 2022. She hopes to initially evacuate her parents, two brothers, three sisters and a nephew. After that, she will try to rescue the rest of her family.

“I’m in touch with my family as much as I can, of course, because with the internet connection and electricity connection, it becomes so much harder sometimes,” she said.

"They are terrified. Especially after Monday morning, where this kind of constant, terrifying attack happened in Rafa, which happened in like half an hour and killed about 100 people.

"That was a time that we will never forget in our lives, it was just so horrifying. When I spoke with my parents that day I could tell they were just traumatised to the core, and I just felt like I was shaking with fear – we couldn’t take this any more.

"We’ve tried so hard to call for a ceasefire, to call for an end to this madness, to call for some justice. But we’re entering the fifth month and there is no glimpse of hope.

"I’ve always been against launching fundraising and asking for money, but it’s a last resort, there are just no other choices at this point in time, but to evacuate my family until things become OK for them to come back.”