Watan-Amid the savage war unleashed by Israel on the people of Gaza and the tragedy unparalleled in history, activists on social media circulated a poignant and spontaneous video of a Palestinian girl speaking to her cat, advising it not to eat her body if she were to be martyred.
The spread of the video came after social media platforms were flooded with recent scenes of cats gnawing on the bodies of martyrs scattered in the streets of Gaza.
In the widely circulated video, the young girl, no more than six years old, appeared embracing a black cat, addressing it, saying, “Please don’t eat us if we die.”
Innocently, the Gaza girl continued, “I wish you would die with us if we die.”
She pleaded with the cat, saying, “Please don’t eat us when we are dead… And if you remain alive, don’t eat us.”
“أمانة! لا تأكلينا إذا متنا”.. ببراءة تُحدّث طفلة غزّية قطتها عن أقصى أمنيّاتها، بعد أن انتشرت مشاهد عديدة مؤخراً لقطط تنهش جثث الشهداء الملقاة في الشوارع بقطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/y7aNJzM8ou
— TRT عربي (@TRTArabi) February 18, 2024
Starving Cats
In the northern Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army has blocked humanitarian aid for nearly four months, animals resort to eating the bodies lying in the streets due to hunger.
Videos posted on social media also showed starving cats and dogs feeding on the bodies of Palestinians in Khan Yunis, where the Israeli army obstructs ambulances from transporting the bodies of martyrs.
Asmaa al-Najjar, a resident of Gaza City, told Anadolu Agency that a cat was wandering around a nearby garbage container, indicating that the hungry animal was trying to satisfy its hunger by eating a type of food it found because it couldn’t find any other food.
Starvation as a Weapon
It’s noteworthy that starving animals resort to the bodies of people who died in Israeli attacks and have not been retrieved from the sites.
Rami Abdo, head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Organization, said in a recent interview with Anadolu that “Israel uses starvation as a weapon to force the people of Gaza to evacuate.”
Palestinian veterinarian Ayed Abu Najm built a shelter for stray cats in Rafah City, southern Gaza Strip.
Abu Najm, who mentioned that many cats died either due to Israeli attacks or starvation, said, “The war waged by Israel on Gaza did not only kill people but also animals. Animals have also been affected by this great injustice.”