By Mohammed Majid and Qais Abu Samra
GAZA CITY, Palestine
Laying sick in her bed, Anaam al-Attar, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl from the Gaza Strip, is awaiting for help to save her life.
Al-Attar suffers from renal thrombosis, a rare kind of kidney failure, since she was a year-and-a-half old.
Her family has sought a kidney transplant surgery, but Palestinian laws stipulate that the donor must be a first-degree relative. None of her family members matches with the girl’s kidney type.
“We need to travel abroad urgently for a kidney transplant surgery from a foreign donor before it is too late,” Salwa al-Attar, the girl’s mother, said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency at the family’s house in the northern city of Beit Lahia, Salwa said her child’s condition considerably deteriorated two months ago.
She said her child has been sent to hospitals inside Israel in a desperate attempt to treat her. “They failed to treat her. My child is now bed-ridden in Gaza.
"We appeal to President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene urgently to save our child’s life and send her abroad for a life-saving surgery,” the helpless mother says, fighting back her tears.
Al-Attar’s case has triggered public media campaigns in the Gaza Strip for saving the Palestinian child’s life.
Endless pain
The Palestinian Health Ministry says that it is ready to cover the costs of al-Attar’s kidney transplant surgery.
“The problem is that there is no first-degree kidney donor,” ministry spokesman Osama al-Naggar told Anadolu Agency.
The spokesman argues that Palestinian laws ban human organ purchases.
“In case there is a second-degree donor, there will be complicated legal procedures to allow the transplant surgery,” he said.
The ministry spokesman went on to call on al-Attar’s family “to search for a donor to save their child’s life”.
According to figures released by the Palestinian Health Ministry, some 404 people suffer from rental failures in Gaza in 2017.
Authorities say rental failure cases in the heavily-populated strip, which is home to nearly two million Palestinians, increase by 14 percent a year due to highly polluted water.
As for al-Attar, she only aspires to recover for playing like other children in her age.
The 12-year-old Palestinian girl conducts a blood-washing operation three times a week. “I feel tired from my blood-washing operations,” the little Palestinian girl said.
Al-Attar said she has dropped out of school this year because of her health conditions.
“I go through endless pain every day. I wish to recover and play like other children in my age.”
*Ali Abo Rezeg contributed to this feature from Ankara
