GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The health system in the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse amid the outbreak of the coronavirus and the disappearance of dozens of medications from the warehouses of the Ministry of Health. PCR tests have also run out, and most intensive care beds and ventilators are already in use in hospitals.

In this context, Ministry of Health officials are calling on the world to provide urgent support to prevent the health system’s collapse and save the lives of those in need of health care.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the most recent country to offer support to the Gaza Strip. On Dec. 17, it sent a cargo aircraft loaded with 14.4 tons of medical supplies and PCR tests. The aircraft landed at Cairo International Airport, and the supplies were transported by land to the Gaza Strip. The Islamic National Commission for Development and Social Solidarity — a group that includes most Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the wing of defected Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan — received the shipment and delivered the supplies to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The UAE medical supply shipment is the third to the Palestinian territories since May. It was processed a few days after Qatar offered a financial grant to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip to cover for the shortage of liquid oxygen in Gaza hospitals. Qatar also assisted the Gaza Strip in March with a $150 million grant to help Palestinians face COVID-19.