RAMALLAH, May 1, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinian patients with chronic renal failure risk losing their lives as they will be deprived of life-support dialysis due to severe shortage of tubes and kidney filters in light of the West's aid cut-off and the crippling Israeli closures.

"Many patients suffering from renal failure will die as kidney filters and dialysis tubes are running out from the hospital's store and the health ministry itself," Ahmed Mosallam, a male nurse in the West Bank Nablus hospital, told IslamOnline.net Monday, May 1.

Sixty-five patients of some 100 with renal failure need daily dialysis to stay alive.

"We have no cash to meet the shortage and no medical supplies have reached us due to the Israeli closure of checkpoints," Mosallam added.

The mother of Mona and Sara, aged 7 and 10, has appealed to the kindhearted to ferry her children abroad as soon as possible to receive dialysis needed three times a week to keep their little kidneys functioning.

Doctors in Nablus hospital have tried in vain to bring much-needed tubes though they have managed to borrow filters from the Ramallah hospital.

The United States and European Union have suspended aid to the Palestinian government. Israel has also since February stopped transferring customs duties worth around $50 million a month and previously collected for the PA.

A recent report released by the United Nations said aid freeze could mean that the Palestinian Authority would end up a "failed state."

Mosallam notes that importers now think twice before giving more supplies to the health ministry as the Palestinian Authority is knee-deep in debts.

The new Palestinian government has inherited not only an empty treasury but 1.7 billion dollars in debts.

It has not been able for the past three months to pay the salaries of employees.

Salem Loqman, a salesman at a pharmaceutical company, says the Israeli closures have added insult to injury.

"We used to import medicines through the Israeli harbors, but now many cargos are standing idle there as they were not cleared by Israeli customs officials," he said.

He said that the Palestinian companies are burdened now with extra fees for Israeli pharmaceuticals to freight the needed medicines in their stead.

"This consequently causes price hikes," he said.

The Palestinians already complain about shortages of food and other items over Israel's closures and the aid cut-off.

The UN warned last month that the Palestinians are on the verge of a humanitarian crisis due to severe food shortage.

Palestinian Health Minister Basem Na'em warned of a catastrophic situation in the Palestinian territories.

"We are on the verge of a catastrophic health crisis if the aid cutoff continues," he told IOL.

He said more than 200 kinds of medicine have already run out, adding that many patients were now dying slowly.

He appealed to the rights groups and aid agencies to offer necessary medical aid to overcome the current crisis.

The Arab League on Sunday, April 30, sent an emergency aid payment of $150,000 to the Palestinian government to meet the medical needs.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the funds were dispatched after the pan-Arab body was posted on the deteriorating health situation in the territories.