The Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip is in a frightening predicament.
The impoverished area is home to approximately two million people, who are tightly packed in dense quarters. Despite its huge population, the territory has only 100 ventilators
in the entire Gaza Strip. And already,
80 percent of them are being used to treat patients with COVID-19.
In a few days, their last ventilators will be tied up as well, leaving any other stricken patients requiring oxygen to die — not because of a lack of care or effort, but because there are simply no other resources.
The emergency health coordinator for the World Health Organization's office in Gaza, Abdelnaser Soboh, emphasized the perilous situation, saying: "within a week, we will become unable to care for critical cases."
Sign the petition to demand that international governments hear this plea and step in to help provide life-saving resources!It's not an accident that Gaza's hospital and healthcare system ended up so strapped. The territory has been blockaded by several other nations for decades now, which has destroyed these Palestinians' economy, restricted residents' movements and travel, and
denied them of the extremely basic things any human needs to live — including adequate healthcare and hospital resources.In less than two weeks, new daily COVID-19 cases in the Gaza Strip have doubled, with no signs of plateauing. One young man, Ahmed Alnajar,
explained to reporters: "Every single person in my family is infected, our neighbors, too. There is hardly a street where someone isn't infected."
As cases inevitably continue to escalate, the people of Gaza will be left with no choice but to watch their loved ones struggle to breathe, worsen, and pass away.
Gazans can't be forced to reckon with this massively deadly virus all on their own. With extremely limited equipment and supplies, and an already-shattered economy, they need international help in order for people like Alnajar and his family to survive.
Tell the United States, Great Britain, and the United Nations to immediately send ventilators, effective treatments, and other necessary medical equipment to hospitals in the Gaza Strip!