SALEM, Ore. — A Palestinian woman living in Salem is working to get her family out and away from the conflict in the Middle East.
Nasma Kaoud was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest after her parents moved from Gaza. She says since she was a young girl, she's felt the pain of relatives still living in the Middle East but never saw conflict on the scale the world is seeing now.
"Instant terror filled me — I knew what was going to happen," said Kaoud.
Kaoud is reliving her reaction to Oct. 7, 2023, the day when Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched a major attack on Israel — her family saw this unfold in real time.
"They were there when it started so they were kind of trapped there, and it took about two months for them to be finally able to get out," she said.
Her mother's side of the family is still living in Gaza, and she can only communicate with them though infrequent messages. "When they do speak to us they are devastated — there is no food, there's no clean water and they're living in a tent in the Mawasi area on the beach," said Kaoud. "No one is comfortable — it's cold. The other day, they were soaked in rain. It's just not a life anyone should be living."
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There are thousands of families just like Kaoud's. The grassroots collective, Operation Olive Branch, is dedicated to amplifying their voices and helping Palestinians meet their basic needs even while living in terror.
The organization got started two months ago by a group of people on TikTok to make it easier for people around the world to help.
"What more can we do to help besides educational content? So whenever families started reaching out to us and saying 'You know we have a GoFundMe — and we desperately need help getting out'. We we're like, okay let's highlight these GoFundMe accounts — let's ask people to donate what they can," said Kaoud.
So far, Operation Olive Branch has helped 50 families evacuate. Kaoud hopes her family in Gaza can be next and is working to raise $70,000 to make it happen.
"Nonstop bombing, nonstop shooting, and nonstop screaming — so imagine living through that for six months. So any amount to be able to get these families out would literally be like lifesaving," Kaoud said.