Rafah - On a dirt road, (click here) behind tall white walls decorated with faded paintings of zebras, giraffes and lions, lies Rafah Zoo.
It is hidden away from Rafah's busy streets, but inside, hundreds of colourful birds in cages tweet loudly - almost drowning out the sound of children playing in a pool nearby.
Opened in the late 1990s by the Jumaa family, Rafah Zoo was the first amusement and leisure park for communities in the Gaza Strip.
Jihad Jumaa, a zookeeper and son of the zoo's owner, told Al Jazeera that his father's original mission had been to provide a place for Gaza's families - small children, especially - to relax and enjoy themselves....
Can we please provide expertise and funding for a place that protects life and doesn't destroy it?
Among ruined houses, a haven for Gaza's children lies in rubble (click here)
The butchered ostrich, the petrified kangaroo cowering in a basement corner, the tortoises crushed under the tank treads - all were held up as evidence of the pitiless nature of the Israeli occupation....
