The victims of the Israel-Palestine conflict have been proven to be much more than the innocent civilians who are considered as collateral damage. The age old war that has claimed thousands of lives over the years has turned uglier and is proving itself cause for a greater pain to the ecosystem in general. In fact, the gruesome happenings at zoos across Gaza will leave you with a pit in your stomach. This is what the Gaza zoos looks like now. There is a constant tussle between the IDF and Palestinian radical groups that have been affecting Gaza for years. And civilians are not the only beings suffering the onslaught of this war. A number of zoos in the Gaza region and their inmates have been facing the wrath of this violence in untold ways. Zoos, in my opinion are an incredibly disheartening and almost useless establishment, to begin with. Apart from just bad management and infrastructure, having caged animals in a war stricken zone is an extremely bad decision that doesn't need to be brought to light more than once.

This inability to provide adequate care has devastated a zoos all over Gaza.

Awaida's zoo is just one of many zoos who have lost dozens and dozens of animals in the wake of this war. The Al-Bisan zoo in Beit Lahia has only 20 of the original 100, left alive. And, with very little activism regarding animal rights, or related officials, the Khan Younis zoo has lost almost all of its animal members, having been left almost completely unsupervised.

The mummification is carried out by Awaida as part of a ritual.

It is common practice to stuff and mummify animals that lost their lives, and return them to the zoo, as a token gesture. Awaida uses formaldehyde and sawdust to preserve the dead animals. "The idea to mummify animals started after the Gaza war because animals like the lion, the tiger, monkeys and crocodiles died. So we asked around and learned from the web how to start," he said in an interview with the DailyMail.