Images that cause sadness and anger. Animals dead, injured suffering and asking for help. They also paid the price of the war. They came face to face with bombs, fought to survive the deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip.
The loss or injury of beloved pets has added to the grief and mental trauma of its inhabitants. Gaza following last month’s deadly clashes.
Neriman, a 9-year-old Palestinian, holds a bowl tightly to Hour, her goldfish, happy that he survived her other goldfish, Huria, who died in an Israeli bombing of Gaza.
In the latest war, Israeli raids have killed 254 Palestinians, including 66 children, as well as some militants, according to authorities. Palestinian gunmen have killed 12 Israelis, including a child, a teenager and a soldier.
Gaza: The pets also suffered along with their owner children
“I was so upset that Huria died and I cried when I buried her in the field,” says Neriman of one of her goldfish, whose name in Arabic means “mermaid.”
“But I was so happy that Hur survived,” she adds of her other goldfish.
At an animal clinic in Gaza City, Amani Abu Sampan holds a long-haired cat near her chest as they wait to see the vet.
“My cat is very scared after the war. She refuses to eat and her hair falls out. “Even the sound of the cell phone ringing terrifies her,” he said, as broadcast by the Athens News Agency.
Veterinarian Mutasem Kantura examines two cats, one after the other. One needed surgery for a broken leg, the other was dehydrated and malnourished.
Dozens of pet owners have flocked to his clinic since the May 21 truce in the Gaza Strip, although supplies for their treatment are scarce.
«The situation with veterinary medicines is catastrophic in Gaza“, Says Kantura.
“For the treatment of animals we use radiological machines intended for humans and platinum screws intended to fix children’s bones,” he explains.
Pets left behind in Gaza
Neriman and her family were forced to flee their home on May 13 after an Israeli officer warned locals of a planned air strike on a neighboring bank.
In a panic, she left behind her fish as well as two parrots, Alous and Malous, which her father had given her for her sixth birthday.
A little later, however, he began to worry. “I went home with my father to get them,” he says.
When they returned, she found a special costume she had left on her bed for Eid celebrations covered in debris, the bed broken, as well as the windows.
“Under the rubble I heard Alous and Malous peeping and I found the fish bowl broken,” little Palestine continues.
Huriya had died, but (with her father) they rescued Hur, a scene recorded on video, which then went viral on social media.
Fearful dogs
South Gaza, 30-year-old Adel al-Wadia says he tried to feed some of the dogs at the city’s largest dog shelter during the bombings.
“They were suffering from fear and hunger and I was sad and so I risked getting as close as I could to feed them”
The shelter’s founder, Said el-Aer, says he returned after the truce and found many of the host dogs frightened and hungry.
Dozens of dogs had panicked and escaped during the 11-day war, while many others had been injured, he explained.
“At least three dogs need surgery, including one who has to have his leg amputated.” Other animals were less fortunate. Air shows an area beyond the shelter fence. “Over there we buried the donkey and the horse when we found them dead from fragments of mortar,” he concludes.
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