The stray cats of Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war 2023

Of course, during the war all the talk of Gaza is about people. All of it. When animals are mentioned, it is in making unfair and derogatory analogies of Hamas terrorists 'behaving like animals'. That's the best the Israelis can do when it comes to animal welfare. Correction when it comes to animal destruction because there is lots of it in Gaza. 

Screenshot.

We know how many people have been killed in Gaza and how many Israel's were killed by Hamas. We know the latter with complete accuracy. The published number is 'over 1400'. The Palestinian authorities guess the former at around 8,800 at the date of this post but it climbs relentlessly.

Three-thousand children have been killed. How many animals? No idea. Not a clue. No one has said. No one cares. War exposes human speciesism. You can see how devalued animals are in war. They are no more important than a building that has been shelled to destruction.

I think people forget that they are sentient beings. So here is a little nondescript video (below) of a cat sauntering through the rubble of Gaza City. He is a ginger tabby and his nose is very sore. I wonder if he had to push his way through rubble to escape. It was probably something like that.

How does he survive? Where is the water? Water is scarce for people never mind the stray cats. And what about food? Perhaps he lives on his hunting skills. There must be a lot of rodents in the ruins. I don't see food as a major issue for the surviving stray cats of Gaza. But water, yes. A big issue. Look at all the dust and rubbish.

They say a cat can live for 3 days without water. But if they have prey to catch, they can get some water from the prey animal as mammals are 70% water. I reckon these cats will survive as if they are living in the desert like their wild cat ancestor. The domestic cat is well adapted to survive in arid environments.

But it is horrible to see these cats struggling. The same for dogs. We need to think of them a bit more. They are entirely innocent. As innocent as the infants shelled into oblivion or trapped under thousands of tons of rubble.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.