GAZA — The Abu Rizq family was shocked when they found the body of their son, Mohamed, who had been lost for about four weeks in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. The body of the 22-year-old man was totally decomposed and had signs of being eaten by dogs and cats.
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“The dogs and cats actually ate my brother’s remains. I saw this. We knew where his body was, but couldn’t reach him and stop them,” Mahmoud Abu Rizq said, explaining that Mohamed’s body was in a “very dangerous” area where the Israeli military hit anyone who came close to it. It took eight days for Abu Rizq to reach the area and retrieve the body.
But he didn’t allow family members to see the body. “I never imagined in my worst dreams that my brother would die, and dogs and cats would eat his body in front of me and I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “How and why does this happen to the Palestinian people?”
Haunting scenes
Mohammed Abu Rizq is one of dozens of Palestinians whose bodies have been eaten by dogs and cats in the streets, according to testimonies obtained by Daraj’s correspondent in Gaza, and videos documenting horrific scenes of animals eating dead bodies.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 43,600 people, and wounded over 103,000 others, Palestinian health officials say. More than 7,000 others are still missing under the rubble of destroyed homes and inaccessible areas especially in northern Gaza, they say.
She still hears the sound of dogs and cats eating the remains.
Hanin al-Dayah, a recent graduate of the Faculty of Medicine at the Islamic University of Gaza, said 13 of her relatives were killed in February in an Israeli strike in northern Gaza. The remains of her father, brother, uncle and other relatives were scattered in the street due to the force of the Israeli missile that fell on them. They were not able to reach the area for a while until cats reached and started to eat the bodies.
“I was chasing cats in the streets to collect parts of the remains of my father, brother and relatives and bury them” she said, adding that the scene still haunts her; she still hears the sound of dogs and cats eating the remains.
Changed animal behavior
In Khan Younis, specifically at the Nasser Medical Complex, Raed Hammad watched cats gathering around and eating a dead body in March during an Israeli raid on the medical facility. He was unable to stop them because at the time the Israeli snipers were in the area.
“It was a cruel scene,” Hammad recalled. “I never imagined that I would see a cat eating the body of a dead person while I stood helpless.” Like al-Dayah, he is still haunted by what he watched, saying he has gone through difficult and heavy nights and “nightmares do not leave his dreams.”
When the Israeli military withdrew from Khan Younis earlier this year, returning families found a change of cats and dogs behavior. The animals became more ferocious, attacking children in the streets, residents say.
The animals have resorted to digging up graves.
“The cats and dogs in our area have become wilder and larger,” said Khaled al-Dada, a Khan Younis resident. He said that it appears that the animals depended on dead bodies amid lack of food after people fled their homes. Food security experts and rights groups have already warned that famine may already be underway in north Gaza where the Israeli military imposed a near total siege for five weeks.
Al-Dada chases stray dogs and cats every night and does not allow them to approach his tent in Khan Younis camp, fearing that they could attack his children.
The animals have resorted to digging up graves in search of food, according to residents and displayed people in areas close to the cemeteries across Gaza. Dogs and cats have dug out bodies to eat them, they say.
