GoFundMe has quite a few fundraisers supposedly for helping Gazans that look to be complete or almost complete scams.
People are claiming to raise money for Gaza victims of war. These generally have no organizations, no transparency and no auditing. Perhaps some percentage of the funds raised go towards needy Gazans, but it is difficult to know whether it is 1% or 90%.
A typical one is "Gaza Emergency Relief," by "Anonymous Charity." It raised nearly $60,000 without giving any specifics of what, exactly, the money will go towards.
We reported Friday about Hosam Shabat, a 21-year old "journalist" who raised $79,000 to supposedly help people in northern Gaza but he has no organization and no specifics on how the money is being spent.
Another "journalist," Mohammed Shaheen, raised $100,000 so far, for "helping children financially and morally."
$188,000 has been raised for an extremist Islamist preacher in Gaza who vaguely says that "we will help them, stand by them, and assist" Gazans.
Someone who claims to be a doctor in northern Gaza has raised $45,000 where, she says, half the money will go for food and and other half to "support injured children." She doesn't say how this money will buy food.
Another supposed doctor says he was relocated to Rafah where he built his own personal field hospital for, of course, the children. He raised $65,000 for his "medical tent."
A social media "journalist" in Gaza named Bisan has been accused of raising $400,000 and not giving any of it to Gazans.
There are scores of similar fundraisers. Some might be legitimate, but a lot of them are clearly scams. Running a charity takes organization and accountability. People who want to donate to Gaza should limit their funding to places like the World Food Programme and UNICEF, and not some random person who may not even be living in Gaza for all we know.
