Gaza Zookeeper Flees Rafah, Rescues Beloved Animals

Pics: Gaza Zookeeper Flees Rafah, Creates Temporary Home For Animals

Before the attack, the city near Egypt's border had avoided a ground invasion. Over half of Gaza's population was taking refuge there.

Pics: Gaza Zookeeper Flees Rafah, Creates Temporary Home For Animals

The zookeeper worries the animals won't survive long without help. Khan Yunis: In a cowshed in Gaza's Khan Yunis, zookeeper Fathi Ahmed Gomaa has set up a temporary home for many animals, including lions and baboons, after fleeing Israel's attack on Rafah.

A lioness rests in a cage after the Rafah Zoo animals were moved to Khan Yunis in Gaza. "We've relocated all our animals, except for three large lions still in Rafah," he said. "I ran out of time and couldn't move them."

Ahmed left his zoo in Rafah when Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of the southern Gazan city.

A keeper looks after animals from the Rafah Zoo after they were moved to Khan Yunis.

Before the attack, the city near Egypt's border had avoided a ground invasion. Over half of Gaza's population was taking refuge there. Now, the Israeli offensive has forced over 800,000 people to flee Rafah, according to the UN, including Gomaa and his family.

"I am asking Israeli authorities: these animals have no link to terrorism," Gomaa told AFP, wanting their help to work with aid groups to save the lions left in Rafah. He fears they won't last long alone.

A lioness rests in a cage after the Rafah Zoo animals were moved to Khan Yunis.

"Within a week or 10 days, if we don't get them out, they'll die without food or water," Gomaa said. He already lost several animals to the war: "Three lion cubs, five monkeys, a newborn monkey, and nine squirrels," he said.

While parrots still make noise, many of Gomaa's birds are gone.

A keeper cares for exotic birds in the Rafah Zoo.

"I released some dogs, hawks, eagles, pigeons, and ornamental birds because we didn't have cages to move them," he said. In the cowshed, Gomaa uses improvised fencing to keep the spotted deer from jumping out. A keeper feeds spotted deer in the Rafah Zoo.

Israeli troops began their attack on Rafah on May 7, despite global concerns for the safety of the 1.4 million civilians in the city.

The deadliest Gaza war began after Hamas's unprecedented attack on October 7 killed over 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official numbers. Operatives also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel's counter-attack has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry run by Hamas.