Gazans first manufacturers of gauze but now suffer shortage during war

As tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to suffer from injuries and a largely collapsed health infrastructure due to Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, Gazans find themselves without needed gauze, after they were the first to manufacture the medical bandage.

Medical gauze is a thin fabric with many holes made of cotton, silk, or synthetic threads. The term was taken from the French word “gaze,” which was perhaps named after Gaza in Palestine, according to the Oxford Advanced Dictionary.

This fabric was made to wrap the wounds of injured people during the Crusades, according to the Defender of Jerusalem.

Amid the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, social media users spoke about how the Gazans were the first people to manufacture this cotton bandage to save the lives of wounded people but now have no gauze to dress the wounds of more than 57,000 injured Palestinians.

كلمة gauze = الشاش الطبي مأخوذة من "غزة" عشان غرة كانت مركز نسيجه و تصديره للعالم. 
They saved millions of lives, but who saved theirs? pic.twitter.com/TA1UeVjkcP

— Somebody that I used to know (@justengy) November 11, 2023

غزة تضمد جراح العالم قبل مئات السنين بـ”الشاش الطبي”.. ولا تكاد تجده اليوم

For centuries, #Gaza has been dressing the wounds of the world with it “#Gauze”.. and no one is there to dress its wounds today pic.twitter.com/1nZgcPDz26

— Dr Aymane Boubouh (@boubouhaymane) November 23, 2023

From October 7, 2023, until January 3, 2024, Israel has killed at least 22,185 Palestinians in Gaza, about 70% of whom are women (more than 5,300) and children (more than 8,663). Meanwhile, the number of injured people reached 57,035 Palestinians. It was also estimated that 7,000 people are still missing under the rubble, announced the Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Health on January 3.

Only nine out of 36 hospitals are partially operating in the Strip, amid an acute shortage of medicine and medical supplies like anesthesia, antibiotics, IV fluids, pain medications, insulin, blood and blood products, the ministry added.

On December 4, 2023, WHO said that it received a warning from Israel to evacuate one of its medical warehouses in Gaza and that access to storage wouldn’t be accessible due to the Israeli military ground operation in the Strip.