In Gaza: The light in between
By Ari Smith
In the aftermath of October 7, Rina Naor felt a million different emotions — fear, shock, and anxiety, but above all a sense of hopelessness. After the initial violence had subsided, Naor, an entrepreneur who worked with start-ups in the technological industry, felt unsure of what to do. When it seemed like the government was paralyzed, she saw how civil society, everyone from doctors to office workers to delivery drivers, came out into the streets to take matters into their own hands where they could. “If I ask, ‘what can I do?’” Naor told her audience at the February 10 lecture, “The Light In Between: Collaborative Action in Palestine and Israel,” “the answer is that I can do a lot.”
Organized by a University of Michigan student, the lecture at the Michigan League brought an audience of college students and retirees, Muslims and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians, to learn about how average people have created something together to help the most vulnerable.
Naor began small, with a friend who owned a restaurant texting her that they’d taken kilos of chicken out of their freezer which would now go to waste — did she know anyone who could use it? The answer at the time was no, but she turned to her neighborhood WhatsApp group and suddenly her home was full of neighbors pounding and frying chicken schnitzel. After the cooking was done, she had nowhere to distribute it, so she once again contacted the group and a truck showed up to ferry the food away. Each time there was a question, someone had the answer.
Then, in May of 2024, Naor read an article in Haaretz about a Palestinian-American neurosurgeon named David Hasan who had volunteered to go into Gaza and give medical aid to civilians. Naor could not look away from the pain she saw there and began working with Hasan to create the Gaza Children Village (GCV), which launched in April of 2025. The first major initiative was the Academy of Hope, which opened in late July of that year, with the plan of offering 200 children a safe place to learn and play. That first day, 600 children showed up, many of whom had not eaten in days before arriving.
Today, there are five Academies of Hope operating in cities all over Gaza, serving 8,500 children daily, with a goal of opening another 10,000 student “mega academy” within weeks. Students receive at least one meal per day, with extra food available to be brought home to their extended and foster families. Children now have somewhere safe that they can keep coming back to, build routines with trusted adults, and receive an education that had been entirely disrupted for years by war.
“The young generation lost two years of education,” says Naor in an interview after the event, “and it will take five, 10, 20 years to rebuild Gaza. We have to give them a way to have a future so they are not lost to despair.” When explaining how they are offering their space to universities after the schoolchildren have departed for the afternoon, she adds that the university students “will have the ability to learn, just by using our infrastructure to bridge the gap. Hopefully by the time they finish learning, it will be a little easier for them to go out and build something better.”
In her work with Gaza Children’s Village, Naor continues with the strategies she has employed since day one — asking for help. “I’m a tech person, what do I know about humanitarian work,” she jokes. Instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel on their own, GCV partners with other aid agencies such as World Central Kitchen, which runs the food distribution, and Challenge to Change, a women’s empowerment organization which offers vocational training to the women attending GCV’s Women’s Centers of Hope, which run hand in hand with the academies. The staff on the ground are local, sourced through community connections like those Naor encountered in her neighborhood schnitzel making.
Naor speaks often about the need to connect with those around us and to maintain empathy, especially with those with whom you disagree. Both American and Israeli societies have become increasingly polarized in recent years, and many have given up on being able to talk to each other about anything important. When asked how she manages to open herself up to those whose views differ from her own, Naor laughs. “I fight with my father every day,” she says. “It is easy to separate my work from that, though, because I focus on what matters most, which are the women and children we help. Their needs are above anything else.”
“Every human being can relate to the need for safety, for a future, for the ability to feed their children,” she continues. “I don’t know how to live with our differences, but I know that we will have to live together. I can focus on the commonalities, and I believe that people genuinely want things to be good. I listen, and I don’t argue, and I tell them about the kids and my work and watch their heart open up. It’s a small win of our hearts getting closer.”
Beyond empathy and connection, however, is the need to do something. Especially for those living thousands of miles from Gaza, the questions of “what can I do? How can I possibly have an impact on something so large? How can my five-dollar donation mean anything?” ring loudly in our ears. Naor pushed back against this. “Our dream came true because of five dollars from common people,” she says. “We are thousands of people in this organization — every dollar that everyone gave made this dream happen. We never got huge grants from funds or governments, it was all from common people from $1 to $100,000, who believe in people and believe in the strength of people to make a difference. Every action you take helps your neighbor. There is polarization — find the person you don’t agree with and find commonality to do something good for another person who needs help. You will feel what I’m feeling every day. You are enlightened by positivity, a bubble of hope in a dark time. Imagine if millions of people do that — how many bubbles of hope will make our life brighter? Every minute you do something good with anyone you disagree with has a huge impact.”
To find out more and to donate to The Gaza Children Village projects, go to their website, thegazachildrenvillage.org
