but Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City must ration what little it has, months into a supposed ceasefire. Both gauze and its English name are widely thought to derive from Gaza and the Arabic word for blended silk, khazz. While perhaps apocryphal, the presumed connection testifies to the bounty that the small strip of land at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, rich in weaving traditions, has provided humanity. As a wound dressing, gauze is an everyday miracle. Its loose weave ironically strengthens its durability, making it able to absorb blood, discharge, pus, and drainage without becoming oversaturated and thereby returning such material to a wound site. Gauze’s value becomes evident during its absence. Bacteria like to sit in pools of bodily fluid. An undressed wound beset by bacteria will become infected.…