Introducing Zaitona: Community Mutual Aid, Led from Within Gaza

Introducing Zaitona: Community Mutual Aid, Led from Within Gaza

When we founded Gaza Champions, we built it around a simple but powerful idea: that real solidarity is personal. That the antidote to helplessness is connection — one ally, one family, one relationship at a time.

But as the genocide in Gaza has deepened, we have been asking ourselves: how do we scale that solidarity? How do we move from individual relationships to collective response? Zaitona is our answer.

Who is Mahmoud, and What is Zaitona?

Mahmoud is not just a partner — he is a dear friend. For years, he worked alongside our co-founders Anam and Matt at Gaza Sky Geeks, where we saw firsthand his commitment to his community, his creativity under pressure, and his deep roots in Gaza.

Throughout the genocide, Mahmoud has channeled that commitment into Zaitona, a community mutual aid initiative he leads on the ground. When famine was at its worst, Zaitona supplied community bakeries with firewood to keep them running. When families needed a place to eat, Zaitona opened a community kitchen in Khan Younis. Today, Zaitona is delivering grocery vouchers directly to families across Gaza.

This is not aid from the outside in. This is a Gazan community organizer, building community infrastructure, for his own people — in the middle of everything.

Why Zaitona Expands What Gaza Champions Can Do

Gaza Champions was built on 1:1 relationships — allies around the world connected directly to Gazan families as pen pals and champions. That model is irreplaceable. Those relationships are the heart of what we do.

But Zaitona allows us to do something we couldn't before: mount a collective, community-level response — led not by us, but by someone who is already there, already trusted, already building.

Through our support of Zaitona, Gaza Champions can now show up not just as a network of individual allies, but as a community standing behind a community organizer on the ground.

That is what solidarity looks like at scale.

How You Can Support Zaitona

We have partnered with Amal Relief and Renewal Foundation, a US-based 501(c)3, to host Zaitona's fundraising page. This means your donation is tax-deductible and you can set up monthly recurring giving — making it easy to show up for Mahmoud and the Zaitona team consistently, not just once.

In a situation that is ongoing and unpredictable, sustained support matters. Monthly giving means Mahmoud can plan, respond, and keep building — knowing that resources will be there.

👉 Donate to Zaitona — Tax-Deductible & Monthly Giving Available

Every contribution goes directly to Mahmoud and the Zaitona team — fueling the bakeries, the kitchen, the vouchers, and whatever comes next.

Follow Zaitona's work on Instagram!