Of the tens of thousands donkeys in Gaza only 4000 have survived and are in bad shape suffering from malnutrition, thirst and injuries

 Photos: Safe Haven for Donkeys

Palestinian veterinarian Saif Alden was barely minutes away from being hit by an Israeli bomb. He had just left the scene where he had recently treated a donkey. He survived, but his equipment was completely destroyed, and obtaining medicine and surgical supplies in Gaza isn't exactly easy.

It was a setback for the "donkey doctor," but it didn't stop him, says Wendy Ahl, who supports the donkey team in Gaza through the British organization Safe Haven for Donkeys. "They've managed to replace some of their equipment. Not all of it; they had a car, but it broke down, so now they use a bicycle to get to the donkey patients." Dr. Alden's team says they've helped around five thousand animals since the beginning of the war, primarily donkeys, horses, and mules. "Although they also treat cats and dogs."

Dr. Alden's work helps not only the donkeys themselves, but also the Palestinians. The animals have always been important in Gaza, but since the war started in October 2023, they have become vital.

“The doctors told us that 90 percent of the people in Gaza use donkeys to transport medicine, food, and supplies,” says Ahl. She's speaking because Dr. Alden can't be reached in Gaza due to the poor internet connection. "Many cars have been damaged by bombs and rockets, and there's no gasoline left."

Donkey carts in Gaza have become taxis, shops, ambulances, and hearses all rolled into one. Veterinarian Alden, for example, told us about a pregnant friend of his who was about to give birth and needed urgent medical attention. “But all the roads were blocked, and ambulances couldn't reach her,” says Ahl. "She finally made it to the hospital on a donkey, and the baby was born. But donkeys also—however sad—carry people who have died.

Incidentally, it's not that donkeys weren't important in Gaza before the war. Even then, the animals transported fruits and vegetables, building materials, and garbage, as the Israeli army restricted the flow of cars and gasoline into the area. “Even in the heart of Gaza City, hundreds of donkey carts lend a 19th-century air to the chaotic traffic,” wrote  The Washington Post  on October 6, 2023, one day before Hamas's deadly attack on Israel.

But the donkeys, just like the people, are struggling. They suffer from malnutrition, thirst, and injuries. Over the past year and a half, the donkey team has seen parasites, rotten hooves, and open wounds caused by flying shrapnel from bombs. "And because the animals are very thin, they also get wounds where their armor chafes," says Ahl.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated last November that some 43 percent of "working animals," such as donkeys and horses, had been killed since the beginning of the war. In February, the organization estimated that only 4,000 donkeys remained—though it added that making a precise estimate is difficult. "Based on the number of donkeys Dr. Alden cared for, we believe there are at least twice as many," says Ahl.

Despite the efforts of Alden's team, the number of donkeys in Gaza is declining, says Ahl. This may also be due to the Israeli army removing donkeys from Gaza, according to a June report by the Israeli public broadcaster Kan. It shows soldiers removing around sixty donkeys from Gaza to a donkey sanctuary in Israel called the Starting Over Sanctuary. From there, they will be transported to Europe, where, according to the broadcaster in France, they can "rest in peace." (A note from Erna,I am not sure I can believe this story )

Low supply

It's vital for both the animals and the people that the remaining donkeys are looked after, says Ahl. But medicine and food for the animals are scarce since Israel blocked the flow of goods into Gaza. "In April, we managed to get a shipment in, but it took us four months. Right now, a second shipment of food and medicine is gathering dust at the border, alongside the hundreds of other trucks that are not allowed in."

The donkeys working as ambulance 

The bodies of Palestinians shot dead at a GHF-run food distribution point near Zikim are carried on a donkey cart in northern Gaza Strip, 20 July 2025.Photo: EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

A former American guard for the Israeli‑backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) says the organization’s aid sites endanger civilians, as France linked Gaza’s famine risk to Israel’s blockade and local officials reported fresh deaths from hunger and Israeli strikes.

In an interview aired by Israel’s Channel 12 and cited by Al Jazeera, the guard said GHF staff “pepper‑spray and hurl stun grenades” at Palestinians who pose no threat.

Once food hand‑outs ended, “the American security guards began shooting at them — at their feet and into earthen embankments — to make them leave,” he said.

“In all my military service, I have never seen such force against unarmed civilians,” he added, urging the aid system “be put to an end.”

Gaza’s health ministry said hospitals recorded 10 famine‑related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 111.

More than 100 human‑rights and aid groups warned in an open letter that a “dire situation” was pushing ever more families toward starvation, warning colleagues were “wasting away”, blamed Israel’s siege for “chaos, starvation and death” and demanded a ceasefire.

France echoed those concerns on Wednesday, calling the famine threat “a result of” Israel’s blockade.

Its foreign ministry condemned Israeli shootings that the United Nations says have killed over 1,000 Palestinians seeking aid in the past two months and criticized new evacuation orders that have uprooted tens of thousands in central Gaza, hampering UN and NGO work.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said Israeli strikes killed 17 people on Wednesday. Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told French state-owned news agency AFP that eight, including a pregnant woman, died in a 2 a.m. blast in Gaza City’s Tel al‑Hawa district. Two others were killed elsewhere in the city, three in Bani Suheila in the south and four near a central‑Gaza food depot.

(jh)

Source: AFP, Guardian, FRANCE24, Le Monde