Urgent Appeal for Humanitarian Aid in Gaza

Gaza is facing a devastating war, causing an urgent humanitarian crisis. The war means access to lifesaving medical supplies is severely limited. Tourniquets play a crucial role in emergency medical care, especially in situations where individuals are faced with severe bleeding and require immediate attention. The limited availability of such essential medical supplies in Gaza means countless civilians may die from preventable injuries.

The Glia Gaza team has engineered a robust, innovative 3D printed tourniquet, which prevented hundreds of deaths during times of conflict. It is designed for easy application by trained professionals and successfully controls severe bleeding on smaller limbs, including those of women and children. Because Glia’s tourniquet is locally manufactured, the Gaza team will ensure a steady supply of tourniquets during this time of escalated violence.

Campaign Update

With the severe escalation of the current situation, we have increased our goal so that we can meet the medical needs in the weeks to come. If through some miracle the war ends soon, we will use your generous donations to equip Gaza's emergency response teams and health facilities for possible future attacks.

Stop the Bleed: Gaza

This appeal is part of our ongoing Stop the Bleed: Gaza campaign. Attacks by the Israeli military on Gaza in 2008-09, 2012, 2014, 2018-20, and 2021 resulted in large numbers of preventable deaths from bleeding. The availability of some tourniquets in the Great March of Return in 2018-20 and the Israeli-led war in 2021 proved that tourniquets save lives.

During attacks in May and June 2023 against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, first responders were faced with limited resources in attempting to treat nearly 200 people, many of whom, according to front-line paramedics, had life-threatening bleeding from their limbs. Gaza Emergency Physician Dr. Mohammad Al-Attar described the events on the ground in Gaza:

"Due to the lack of proper devices available in the field, paramedics had to use improvised tourniquets in an attempt to save lives. The feeling in Gaza is that further attacks are imminent. To ensure the ability of front-line first responders to effectively save lives amidst these extraordinary circumstances, it is imperative that they are equipped with thoroughly tested and reliable tourniquets."

To address fears of escalating violence, Glia donated its entire supply of locally made tourniquets to ambulance service providers in August 2023. In September, demonstrations at the Gaza-Israel border resulted in Palestinian protesters receiving numerous gunshot injuries in the lower extremities; ambulance crews applied the Gaza Tourniquet to those victims to save lives.

You can help save lives with your generous donation. Tourniquets in Gaza have been proven highly effective, but we need funds to manufacture and distribute these devices. Your donation will allow our team to produce and distribute tourniquets swiftly to where they are needed most: first responders and emergency rooms. Your donation will offer hope and chance at survival to the people of Gaza.

Our Previous Work in Gaza

Together with Islamic Relief Canada, Glia launched #PPE4Gaza in December 2019 to make and distribute personal protective equipment for healthcare workers in Gaza. Through the generosity of donors like you, we raised over $100,000, allowing us to respond almost immediately to the Ministry of Health’s need for PPE by 3D printing and distributing thousands of face shields. With the help of Medical Aid for Palestinians UK, we successfully shipped 3D printers and reusable respirators to Gaza so we could continue the work and increase local capacity.

In response to the bombardment of Gaza in 2021, Glia partnered with the International Development Relief Foundation to launch the Open Gaza Initiative, which will train and deploy engineers to refurbish and repair existing hospital medical equipment using cutting edge technology, such as 3D printing, local printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing, and use of desktop-scale CNC machines.

Two members of Glia, Drs. Benjamin Thomson and Tarek Loubani were also involved in EmpowerGAZA, a project that placed solar panels and batteries on four major hospitals in Gaza, providing uninterrupted power.

Our record shows, Glia’s team is committed to the health of all of those in need around the world and in Gaza.