We are all wrestling with the wide-ranging impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in our various corners of the world. Gaza has seen a number of confirmed cases. The spread of the pandemic in Gaza will be catastrophic – for children, and their families. Some estimates suggest that as much as a quarter or half of any population is vulnerable to contracting the disease, and that 20 per cent of these people will require hospitalisation.

It’s not as if Gaza goes into this pandemic with a normal medical infrastructure. Like most civilian infrastructure, this was already crumbling. Hospitals with 78 ICU beds for the entire 2 million population, water which is 96% undrinkable – all results of continual Israeli bombardment and the illegal siege which has been imposed on the territory for over a decade now. As the director of programmes in Gaza for Medical Aid for Palestinians said, “If coronavirus can crush even well-equipped healthcare systems, imagine what could happen in Gaza“.

In addition, the siege has crippled the economy to such an extent that the worry for families in Gaza is not whether supermarkets might run out of supplies but how to pay for them: more than 80 per cent of the population relies on humanitarian aid.

There are a number of organisations arranging for urgent medical supplies and care packages for the families most in need in Gaza. We’d appreciate your support to any of them. By way of thanks, our artist has created 30 special edition prints of our best-selling Palestinian Sunbird prints, with a rainbow motif for Covid-19. If you email us your receipt or evidence of a £30+ donation to any of these organisations (or to Hope and Play), we’ll send you one of these by way of thanks. First 30 only!

The organisations we’d recommend include:

Our partner organisation in Gaza, the Canaan Institute of New Pedagogy, is also at the forefront of delivering emergency food and medical supply parcels to families most at risk. You can donate to them via our donation page. All funds will go straight to the Canaan Institute and towards the purchase of vital supplies.

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