Photos of a rare veterinary clinic still open in war-battered Gaza

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Pet owners in war-battered Gaza are struggling to feed their animals and protect them from disease as a small number of veterinary clinics contend with severe shortages of medicines, vaccines and other supplies.

Beyond a handful of facilities that primarily treat livestock, just two veterinary clinics for household pets remain operational in the territory of over 2 million people. This month, at a modest clinic in Gaza City, staff provided cats and dogs with basic medical care and grooming. They also treated other animals, including a rooster.

Although the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, said it approves the entry of animal vaccines into Gaza, veterinarians say many medicines and vaccines commonly used to prevent and treat disease remain unavailable. Because of the shortages, many pets have died, said veterinarian Dr. Motasem Qadoura.

Saja al-Hattab brought her cat, Lulu, for a checkup. She said that during periods of severe hunger in Gaza over the past two years, she sometimes fed her cat bread soaked in water because little else was available.

“Like us, cats also were being starved,” she said.

The veterinarian agreed. “We experienced famine in Gaza and during that period, unfortunately, pet owners had to search for alternatives to feed their pets, and some of these alternatives weren’t suitable,” Qadoura said. “We saw cases of food poisoning caused by food like onions.”

Another visitor, Heba Hathat, said her cat remains unvaccinated, and she cannot find affordable litter or cat food.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.