As children walked into the zoo near Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, they found a lion barely looking back at them through the bars of its cage and chimpanzees sitting listlessly in their enclosure.

Many of the animals were malnourished, weakened by shortages of food, medicine and vaccines. But they were still alive, largely thanks to the efforts of zoo owner Mahmoud Gomaa.

He originally ran the attraction in the southern city of Rafah, but said he had to flee when Israeli troops attacked and occupied part of the area in 2024.

As the conflict raged, he moved the surviving animals from town to town before finding a place in Nuseirat in central Gaza earlier this year.

There, he reopened the zoo, hoping to give traumatised youngsters something to enjoy after nearly three years of destruction.

Zoo keeper returned to find animal bones

“In the beginning of the war people were looking for a way to survive … and I was looking for a way to save the animals more than saving myself,” Gomaa told Reuters.

There were a number of zoos in Gaza before the conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted, displaying exotic and wild animals including lions and eagles, municipal records show.

Anyone trying to keep one open now faces enormous challenges, vets and animal experts said, not least in getting food in a territory struggling to feed its human population.

“Owners are currently feeding them frozen meat,” veterinarian Nidal Fadel said. “This is a catastrophe and a wrong nutritional plan because in nature they eat fresh prey.”

The animals themselves are bearing the brunt of the war — sometimes directly.

When Gomaa fled Rafah, he said he had to leave behind three lions, several crocodiles and some African ostriches.

A few months later, Gomaa returned and only found the bones of the crocodiles and the ostriches. Those three lions, which he had locked in their cages, had disappeared.

There is also the trauma caused by the sound and sight of the conflict raging around them.

“Lions can detect sounds and disturbances that humans may not notice,” said Amir Khalil, a veterinarian who has led several trips to Gaza by the animal welfare organisation Four Paws and rescued other zoos’ animals.

“Bombing and constant conflict create enormous stress and fear for them,” he added.

In Nuseirat, the surviving lion barely looked up at the visitors. But the children had better luck with some of the other animals, letting parrots ride on their shoulders and petting smaller monkeys.

It was a rare chance to relax in an enclave still facing regular airstrikes, despite a fragile ceasefire. Israel’s military, which says its attacks are aimed at Hamas targets, did not immediately respond to questions about the conflict’s impact on civilian facilities like zoos and their animals.

“Today there is no avenue for children to play,” said visitor Karam Al-Mazin, 42.

“There is nothing except rubble, stones and tents, so children today are bored and are in a difficult situation.”