A group of Jagannath University students have sent 200 packets of food to war-torn Gaza under their initiative, “Project Lifeline Gaza.” The first phase of aid was distributed on 5 July in the southwest region of Gaza, where many displaced families from Beit Hanoun have taken shelter.

The project idea was initially conceived by the Jagannath University Human Rights Society, and later eight students from different departments joined the initiative, who raised the aid. The members are Nawshin Nawar Joya, Ammar Bin Asad, Junaed Masud, Omar Faruq Srabon, Tanjila Sultana Tani, Mohammad Ibrahim, Sifat Hasan Sakib, Umme habiba.

Junaed Masud, secretary of the society, told TBS Graduates that the motivation behind the initiative came from a deeply rooted sense of humanity. “What’s been happening in Gaza for the last year and a half is inhuman. It’s an act of genocide,” he said.

Posting on Facebook and shedding tears for Gaza, he believes, are not enough. “That’s not solidarity. That’s not action.”

“You don’t have to be a Muslim to feel for Gaza. You just have to be human. We students have our own sense of responsibility, and driven by this moral obligation, we have decided to come forward. This is the least we could do,” he added.

But a question naturally follows: how did the team manage to send aid to Gaza, a place under near-total blockade with almost no access to external supplies?

Masud’s response is straightforward: no aid entered Gaza from outside. “Everything was done within Gaza,” he said. “We transferred the funds to our representative team in Gaza. They bought raw ingredients, baked the bread locally, and distributed it among 200 families.”

When asked whether the team plans to continue its efforts, Junayed sounded optimistic. “At first, people were skeptical—and rightly so. But now that we’ve done it once and have all the documentation in place, it’s easier. We definitely want to expand our project and send more aid to Gaza in the future.”