These photos were taken at the Khan Younis Zoo in the Gaza Strip. Here, captive animals are starved due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which makes keeping these animals impossible.
Mohammed Awaida is the owner of the zoo, which opened in 2007 and has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in this business. However, many pets were killed in the Israeli army’s raid against Hamas last year.
Awaida said that after 3 weeks of fierce fighting, he was unable to return to take care of the zoo and many animals were starved to death. History happened once in 2014 after the war in the Gaza Strip called Operation Protective Area.
The war between Israeli and Palestinian troops left 1,960 Palestinians and 67 Israelis dead. 80 animals died and only 20 animals are left alive at another zoo called Al-Bisan in the Gaza Strip.
Khan Younis is one of five zoos in the Gaza Strip, home to 1.7 million people controlled by Hamas forces. Because there is no unit in charge of these zoos, the facilities at Khan Younis are increasingly degraded.
The photo shows that the dried carcasses have begun to rot after many years of exposure to wind and rain. The animals are now nothing more than decorations at the store.
